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THE 


Church  and  the  Faith 


A   PHILOSOPHICAL    HISTORY   OF   THE 
CATHOLIC    CFIURCH 


'containing   a    Tl'EORY    OF   THE   CHURCH,    AN    ACCOUNT   OF 

ITS    ESTABLISHMENT,     ESSAYS     ON     THE     SIX     GENERAL     COUNCILS     AND 

IMPORTANT  Cl^NTROVERSIES,  AN  EXPOSITION  AND   DEFENSE   OF 

THE   DUE   AND    PROPER    CLAIMS    OF    THE    CHURCH 

IN    AMERICA,    AND    OTHER    MATTERS 


BY    THE    REV.J 

WILLIAM    BREVOORT    BOLMER 


NEW   YORK 

E.   &  J.    B.    YOUNG  &   CO 

COOPER  UNION,   FOURTH   AVENUE 

1887 


Copyright,  18S7. 
E.  &  J.  B.  Young  &  Co. 


DEDICATION. 


to  the  right  reverend 
Hugh  Miller  Thompson,  s.t.d.,  ll.d., 

TTTHOSE  ABLE  INSTRUCTION  TAUGHT  HIM  TO  SEEK  FOR  THE  HIDDEN  MEANING  WHICH 
UNDERLIES  THE  EVENTS  OF  HISTORY,  TO  EXAMINE  THE  EVIDENCE  OF  HISTORIANS 
WITH  A  CRITICAL  EVE,  AND  TO  ACCEPT  A  RATIONAL  THEORY  OF  DOCTRINAL  DE- 
VELOPMENT ; 

WHOSE  WISE  FORESIGHT  AND  TEMPERATE  COURAGE  HAVE  POINTED  OUT  FOR  Hi;\I  AND 
OTHERS  THE  SAFE  PATH  THROUGH  AT  LEAST  ONE  VEHEMENT  CONTROVERSY  OF 
MODERN   DATE ; 

AND  WHOSE  MANLY  ELOQUENCE  HAS  HELD  BEFORE  HIM  AND  VAST  CONGREGATIONS  A 
SHINING   EXAMPLE   AND   MODEL   OF  THE  TRUE   PULPIT   ORATOR  j 

THE  FOLLOWING  VOLUME  IS  GRATEFULLY  DEDICATED  BY  THE  AUTHOR,  IN  THE  HOPE 
THAT  NO  CAUSE  OF  OFFENSE  WILL  MEET  THE  KEEN  EYE  OF  HIS  FORMER  PRECEP- 
TOR, SHOULD  CURIOSITY  PROMPT  SO  BUSY  A  DIVINE  TO  TUgN  THESE  PAGES,  AND 
EXAMINE  THE  QUALITY  OF  THE  FRUIT  FOR  WHICH  THE  SKILL  AND  PATIENT  FAITH- 
FULNESS OF  THE  LEARNED  DOCTOR   ARE   IN   A  MEASURE   RESPONSIBLE. 

the  author. 


v^ 


PREFACE. 

It  is  believed  that  a  very  definite  aim,  as  the  purpose  of  the 
present  publication,  will  manifest  itself  to  every  attentive  reader 
who  has  the  patience  to  peruse  it  to  the  end.  It  may  not  be 
superfluous,  however,  to  state  that  the  author  was  conscious  of 
a  twofold  design,  while  laboring  at  his  manuscript.  Having 
often  wished,  in  vain,  for  some  single  book  which  should  present 
in  a  small  compass,  for  the  benefit  of  such  as  he  has  been  pre- 
paring for  confirmation,  the  exact  nature  of  some  of  the  main 
reasons  which,  in  his  judgment,  should  actuate  every  one  who 
seeks  to  become  a  member  of  the  church  at  whose  altars  he 
unworthily  ministers,  he  intends  to  employ  the  present  volume 
for  the  instruction  of  his  own  candidates;  and  offers  it  to  the 
public  in  the  hope  that  it  may  prove  useful  to  others  in  a  similar 
way.  He  also  begs  leave  to  say  that  he  is  thoroughly  persuaded 
that  the  work  contains  an  argument  which  is  as  important  as  it 
is  uncommon ;  that,  for  himself,  he  holds  to  the  correctness  of 
the  position  assumed,  and  expects  to  die  in  that  belief,  as  he 
has  always  lived  in  it  since  he  became  old  enough  to  form 
an  intelligent  judgment  in  the  premises ;  and  that  he  has  made 
an  attempt  to  set  forth  his  views,  knowing  them  to  be  unpop- 
ular, because  he  has  felt  constrained  to  take  that  step  by  that 
strange  necessity  of  strenuously  advocating  his  peculiar  ideas 
which  lies  so  heavily  upon  most  men  of  decided  convictions, 
in.  whose  ranks  the  author  would  shrink  from  claiming  for  him- 
self a  place,  did  not  the  exigencies  of  his  period  seem  to  exact 
such  a  sacrifice  from  his  diffidence. 


vi  PREFACE. 

Ten  years  have  sped  on  their  way  since  this  work  was  com- 
posed. Revising  it  carefully,  after  such  an  interval,  and  after 
several  years  in  which  it  was  not  even  glanced  at,  the  writer 
has,  of  course,  found  somewhat  to  be  changed,  bnt  he  is  sur- 
prised at  the  small  amount  of  really  important  alterations  he 
has  been  led  to  make.  The  positions  assumed  he  regards  as 
defensible ;  and,  relying  upon  the  divine  assistance,  he  is  ready 
to  maintain  them  against  all  assailants.  Should  he  presently 
become  convinced  that  any  one  of  them  is  untenable,  he  will 
cheerfully  seek,  and  diligently  fortify,  other  ground,  thankful 
for  whatever  agency  shall  have  delivered  him  from  so  much 
of  error.  As,  however,  a  whole  decade  has  strengthened  his 
persuasion  that  the  teachings  of  this  humble  production  are 
substantially  those  of  nineteen  Christian  centuries,  he  is  embold- 
ened to  commit  these  chapters  to  discriminating,  well-informed, 
and  enlightened  readers  with  a  certain  degree  of  hopeful  confi- 
dence that  his  extremely  pleasant,  though  arduous,  labor  will 
not  have  been  wasted. 

THE  AUTHOR. 
December  Ut,  1886. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

IMPORTA]SrCE    OF   THE   SUBJECT. 

FAOB 

Forms  of  government  not  unimportant,  in  particular  forms  of  church  gov- 
ernment— Possibility  of  being  more  or  less  happy  in  heaven  according 
to  one's  life  on  earth — All  sects  tend  towards  deterioration— The  church 
the  only  hope  of  the  world  at  large — Christ's  Churcli  dear  to  all  who 
love  Him 11 


CHAPTER   II. 

THEORY     OF    THE    CHURCH. 

Two  theories,  Monarchical  and  Republican — A  model  government  not  yet 
realized — Objections  to  a  democracy — Xo  form  of  government  imposed 
upon  us  by  Reason — God  absolute  Monarch  of  the  universe — Danger  of 
Centralization — Of  License — The  Church  the  champion  of  Freedom — 
To  whom  was  the  commission  to  rule  Christ's  Kingdom  given  ? — The 
Apostles  communicated  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the  baptized — Commission 
to  the  Apostles  alone — Our  method  of  reasoning  vindicated — The  func- 
tions of  the  laity  in  the  Christian  Republic — This  Republic  a  Monarchy 
also,  governed  by  Christ  through  commissioned  officers— The  Apostolic 
Succession  valueless  out  of  the  true  Communion 19 


CHAPTER  III. 

EPISCOPACY. 

The  Episcopal  Theory  satisfies  the  requirements  of  Scripture — The  Papal 
Supremacy  a  fiction — The  Church  episcopal  in  second  century — Univer- 
sally— No  trace  of  any  previous  change — Must  have  been  so  in  the 
beginning — Likelihood  of  ambitious  presbyters  snatching  the  mitre — 


viii  CONTENTS. 

FAGS 

Theory  of  a  gradual,  unrecorded  usurpation  subversive  of  the  entire 
Faith — Reason  of  adoption  of  usurpation  theory — Anti-episcopacy  un- 
tenable       31 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CONTINUITY   AND    EISE    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

The  Christian  Church  a  continuation  of  the  Jewisli — The  Holy  Spirit  not 
given  till  Pentecost — Jewish  ceremonies  tolerated  for  awhile,  but  swept 
away  at  last  by  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem — Rapidity  of  growth  con- 
sidered as  a  criterion  of  the  doctrine  taught  by  a  sect-^Xatural  causes 
insufficient  to  account  for  rapid  advance  of  Chi-istianity — llatred  of 
Jews  for  a  suffering  Messiah — Of  Gentiles  for  a  Crucified  God — Of  sin- 
ful man  for  goodness  and  truth — Christianity  triiuuphant  through 
cooperation  of  the  Holy  Spirit — The  natural  causes  which,  working 
with  the  divine  agency,  produced  such  speedy  and  solid  progress  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Church  were,  1st.  Its  admirable  organization — 2nd.  Its 
unity  ;  3rd.  Its  purity 41 


CHAPTER  V. 

MANICH^ISM. 

Early  sects — Gnosticism — Manieha^ism — Origin  of  evil — Consequences  of 
Dualistic  theory;  Monachism — Puritanism — Brethren  of  Free  Spirit — 
Calvinism — Universalism — Rejection  of  Old  Testament 55 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   CHURCH   AS   AN   ESTABLISHMENT. 

Conversion  of  the  world — Of  Constantino — Edict  of  Milan — Glorious  pros- 
pect before  the  Church — An  Establishment  unjust — Dangers  of  such  a 
status  to  the  Church — Imperial  intermeddling  in  matters  of  faith — 
Aggrandizement  of  ministry — Evils  arising  with  growth  of  Episcopal 
importance — 1st.  Deterioration  of  character — 2nd.  Elevation  of  un- 
worthy men — Investitui-e  Controversy — Bad  results  of  Establishment  . .     63 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THEORY  OF  GENERAL  COUNCILS. 

The  Saviour  as  a  Teacher — Taught  a  system  of  the  most  perfect  kind — 
Disciples  needed  one  of  another  sort — A  system  necessary  in  all  learning 
and  teaching — St.  Paul  as  a  systematizer — Objections  must  be  met  by 


C0ITTENT8.  ix 

PACK 

definite  replies — Religion  obedient  to  this  law — One  must  philosophize 
in  order  to  reflect — Impossible  to  instruct  the  ignorant  without  for- 
muke — Opposition  to  Dogmatic  Theology  comes  from  repugnance  to 
Christianity,  from  love  of  peace,  from  mental  incapacity,  from  inherited 
prejudice — From  arrogant  way  in  which  it  has  been  taught — Analogy 
demands  that  we  should  not  be  left  to  the  task  of  weighing  authorities 
in  order  to  ascertain  the  Truth — A  safer  way  provided — Voice  of  the 
Spirit  to  be  sought  for  in  the  utterances  of  the  whole  church — Initiative 
in  determining  controversies  belongs  to  the  ministry — Laity  must  have 
at  least  the  power  of  veto — Ministry  a  caste — Most  exposed  to  govern- 
mental influence — Not  as  conservative  as  the  laity — No  council  can  a 
priori  be  pronounced  General — Absolute  unanimity  not  requisite — 
Council  not  to'  pronounce  what  the  Faith  ought  to  be,  but  what  it 
always  has  been — Must,  however,  be  allowed  a  certain  liberty  in  draw- 
ing plain  deductions  and  deciding  upon  propriety  of  forms — Tradi- 
tion— Development 74 


CHAPTER  YIII. 

COUNCIL   OF   NIC^A,  325   A.  D. 

Alexandria — Its  school — Its  speculative  tendency — Dispute  between  Alex- 
ander and  Arius — Arianism — Its  terrible  and  sweeping  consequences — 
Constantine  interposes — Members  of  the  Council  of  Nicaea — Hosius — 
Eusebius — Eustatliius — Athanasius — His  life — His  importance  to  the 
Church — A  remarkable  synod — Transactions  at  its  sessions — Discussion 
of  the  Homoousion — The  controversy  not  an  unimportant  one — The  rea- 
sonableness of  the  Catholic  doctrine — The  Monarchy  of  the  Father — 
Decisions  of  the  Council — Subsequent  history  of  the  struggle — Con- 
stantine and  Arius — Constantius — His  successors  and  their  policies — 
Rise  of  Aetians  and  Semi-Arians — Arianism  vanishes 95 


CHAPTER   IX. 

FIRST    COUN"CIL   OF   CONSTANTINOPLE,  381    A,  D. 

Anecdote  of  Amphilochius — Macedonius  and  Macedonianism — ApoUinari- 
anism  and  its  founder — How  far  ApoUinarius  was  responsible  for  the 
heresy  which  took  his  name — Necessity  for  a  General  Council — Times 
inauspicious — Sad  effects  of  alliance  between  Church  and  State  in  de- 
terioration of  the  former — Damaging  influence  upon  morals  of  un- 
intermitted  controversy  and  strife — Council  called — Constantinople — 
Theodosius  the  Great — His  religious  policy — Success  of  his  arms — 
Constitution  and  conduct  of  Councils — Excuse  for  unruliness  of  an- 
cient gatherings  to  be  sought  in  the  lack  of  Parliamentary  Manuals — 
Gregory  Nazianzen — Action  of  the  Council — Ecumenicity  of  Council 
— Division  of  the  Church  into  Greek  and  Latin  Churches — Difference 
between  Greek  and  Roman  tongues — They  are  established  with  corre- 


X  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

spending  diversity  of  civilization  in  East  and  West  respectively — 
Greeks  degenerate  in  Asia — Greek  the  great  language  of  theology — The 
Romans  morally  superior — Staunch  and  conservative — CEcumenicity  of 
1st  Constantinople  proved  by  universal  reception  of  its  Creed 135 


CHAPTER   X. 

COUNCIL   OF   EPHESUS,  431    A.  D. 

Antioch  and  its  school — Antagonism  between  Alexandria  and  Asia — Cyril 
— View  of  the  Incarnation  taken  by  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia — Nestorius 
patriarch  of  Constantinople — Accused  by  Eusebius  of  Doryhaniin — Use 
of  term  Tlwotokos — Its  correctness — Reference  to  Rome  of  the  dispute 
by  both  parties,  Cyril  and  Nestorius — Growing  importance  of  Rome — 
Celcstine  favorable  to  Cyril — Theodosius  the  Younger — Ephcsus — As- 
sembling of  the  bishops — Proceedings — Counter-proceedings  of  John 
and  his  adlierents — Imperial  countenance  obtained  by  Cyril's  party — 
Character  of  the  Council — Question  of  authoritativeness  not  bound  up 
with  tliat  of  orderliness — End  of  the  session — Reconciliation  of  prin- 
cipal disputants — Further  history  of  Xcstorianism — Church  right  in 
strenuously  asserting  the  Theotolcos — Decline  of  tlie  lieresy — Pelagian- 
ism — Pelagius — St.  Augustine — His  history,  conversion,  writings — Rad- 
ical defect  in  i)hil()sophy  of  both  Pelagius  and  Augustine — Man  a  free 
agent — His  pov.-cr  a  limited  one — Reconciliation  of  contradiction — Rise 
of  Pelagianism — History  of  the  new  doctrine — Zosimus  of  Rome  at  first 
approves  and  then  condemns  it — Ephesus  pronounces  its  condemnation 
— Semipclagianism — Statement  of  view  of  man's  freedom  held  by 
Pelagius — By  Augustine — True  theory  that  of  cooperation — Discussion 
of  Foreknowledge — Views  concerning  Adam — The  Fall — Original  Sin 
— Red(>mp(ion — Rcgenenilion — Decisions  of  Council  of  Ephesus — The 
Catholic  doctrine  of  Election 147 


CHAPTER  XL 

COUNCIL  OF  CHALCEDOX,  451    A.  D. 

The  monastic  orders — Tlie  papacy — Their  rivalry,  and  that  of  Alexandria 
and  Constantinople — Dioscorus — Eutyches  accused — Robber  Synod — 
Nature  of  p]utychianism — Difficulties  attending  attempts  to  conceive  of 
the  union  without  fusion' of  the  two  natures— Commingling  of  natures 
destructive  of  doctrine  of  Mcdiatorship— Death  of  Tlieodosius,  acces- 
sion of  Pulcheria',  and  her  marriage  with  Marcian— Policy  of  govern- 
ment with  regard  to  the  holding  of  a  council— Place  and  composition 
of  Fourth  General  Council— Its  proceedings— Case  of  Thcodoret— 
Reluctance  to  issue  definitions  of  the  Faith— Condemnation  of  Eutych- 
ianism  and  affirmation  that  Christ  exists  "in  two  natures  "—Cyril's 
orthodoxy  discussed— Definition  of  Chalcedon  justified— Ratification  of 
three  preceding  General  Councils— Advantages  arising  from  this  ratifi- 


CONTENTS.  XI 

cation — Chalcedon  completes  the  defense  and  statement  of  doctrine  of 
Incarnation — Church  proof  against  natural  tendency  towards  extreme 
views — History  of  Alexandrian  church — Disturbances  in  Palestine — 
Leo's  Encyclical — Zeno's  Henoticon — Schism  of  Rome  and  Constan- 
tinople— Later  history  of  Eutychians,  or  Jacobites 191 


CHAPTER  XII. 

SECOND   COUNCIL   OP   CONSTANTINOPLE,  553    A.  D. 

Completeness  of  doctrinal  system  formulated  by  first  four  councils — Fifth 
and  Sixth  not  unnecessary — Propriety  of  Justinian's  scheme  for  settling 
faith  by  corresponding  with  the  bishops  instead  of  summoning  them  to 
a  conclave — Theodore  Ascidas  excites  a  controversy  about  certain  writ- 
ings in  order  to  draw  off  attention  from  Origenism — The  errors  of 
Theodore,  Theodoret,  and  Ibas  collected  into  Three  Chapters,  and  con- 
demned by  Imperial  Edict,  544,  as  favoring  Nestorianism — The  con- 
demned authors — Justinian — Edict  endorsed— Resistance  of  North- 
African  Church — Of  Vigilius,  and  Dalmatian  and  Illyrian  bishops — 
Vigilius  at  Constantinople — Noted  opponents — Africans  mistaken  as  to 
action  of  Chalcedon  with  regard  to  writings  of  Theodoret  and  Ibas — 
Objection  advanced  by  them  to  condemnation  of  dead  men  not  valid — 
Fifth  General  Council — Ratification  of  its  action — Plea  for  its  author- 
itativeness 216 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

THIRD   COUNCIL   OF   CONSTANTINOPLE,  680-681   A.  D. 

Imperial  contempt  for  theological  controversy — Successive  compromises — 
Their  results — The  Monothelite  compromise — Its  origin — Why  Will  was 
selected — Discussion  of  the  new  doctrine — Problem  of  contact — Herac- 
lius — Rise  of  Monothelism— Sophronius — "  Ectheus  "  (639) — Constans 
II.— Maximus— "  Type  "  (648)— Opposition— Stephen  of  Dor— Maximus 
— Martin  I. — Persecution  and  death  of  last — Of  Maximus — Anastasius — 
Martyrs  had  not  suffered  in  vain — Adeodatus  excommunicates  Patriarch 
of  ConstanMnople — Donus — Agatho  summons  synod  which  condemns 
the  heresy — Constantine  Poganatus  calls  the  Sixth  General  Council- 
Its  proceedings — Remarkable  episode — Decision  of  Council — Honorius 
of  Rome  anathematized — Further  history  of  struggle,  and  downfall  of 


Monothelism — Maronites % 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

ICONOCLASTIC    CONTROVERSY. 

Certain  controversies  instrumental  in  dividing  the  Church — Judaism  and 
idols — Early  Christians  denounce  science — And  art — Christianity  not 


OO 


xii  C02i'TENT8. 

hostile  to  Love  of  Beautiful — Art  gains  a  foot-hold — Danger  attending 
pictures  and  images — Idolatry  enervating  to  soul  of  worshiper — Effemi- 
nacy the  origin  of  idolatry  in  the  Church— A  reaction  to  be  expected— 
Mahommedanism  and  Judaism  deride  the  idols  of  Christians— Leo 
the  Isaurian — Attacks  images — Rouses  the  monks  of  the  Archipelago — 
Opposition — Germanus  resigns  see  of  Constantinople — Italy  rejects  the 
edict — John  Daniascenus  —  Constantine  V.,  Copronymus  —  Convenes 
Council  at  Constantinople,  754,  and  condemns  images — Irritates  the 
partisans  of  images — Severe  and  cruel  treatment  of  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople-Leo IV.  emperor — Irene — Council  of  NiciPa  (787)  restores 
images — Leo  tlie  Armenian  a  vehement  Iconoclast  (813-820) — Theodore 
Studites — Michael  II. — Theophilus — Theodora  ejects  John  the  Gram- 
marian, reinstates  images,  and  institutes  the  Feast  of  Orthodoxy — 
Charlemagne — The  Four  Caroline  Books — The  middle  course — Charle- 
magne rebukes  both  parties — Council  at  Frankfort  in  794 — Lewis  the 
Pious — Britain  unites  with  France — Fair  prospect  clouded 255 


CHAPTER  XV. 

SCHISM   OF   EAST    AND   WEST. 

The  scene  at  Babel  reenacted — No  doctrine  binding,  however  generally  held, 
unless  sanctioned  by  a  council — Providence  makes  assembling  of  a  gen- 
eral council  impossible — Unity  not  destroyed  by  the  Schism — Great  in- 
jury, nevertheless,  results — Causes  of  disruption — Moral  or  theological 
— Natural — Union  with  State — Minor  causes — Iconoclastic  controversy 
— "Filioque" — Grounds  of  objection  raised  by  the  Greeks  to  insertion 
of  that  clause — Unauthorized — Impugns  Monarchy  of  the  Father — 
History  of  Schism — Nicholas  I. — Photius — Mutual  excommunication — 
Atteijipt  at  reunion  in  Eleventh  Centurj' — In  Thirteenth — In  Fifteenth 
— Total  failure — End  of  Byzantine  Empu-e 280 


CHAPTER  XVL 

EUCHARISTIC   CONTROVERSY. 

The  Frankish  race  takes  a  leading  position  in  the  Church — Iconoclastic  Con- 
troversy trenches  upon  doctrine  of  Eucharist — First  Eucharistic  Con- 
troversy— Doctrine  of  Paschasius  Radbert — Opponents — Supporters — 
Discussion  of  Doctrine — Testimony  of  senses  to  be  taken  unreservedly 
or  not  at  all — They  testify  against  corporeal  change — Christ's  manhood 
is  in  heaven — We  partake  not  of  glorified,  but  of  crucified,  body — Posi- 
tion thus  reached  must  be  maintained  at  all  hazards — On  the  other  hand, 
Christ  is  present  in  Eucharist  specially  by  His  divinity — By  His  Vicar, 
the  Holy  Spirit — In  a  closer  and  mystical  sense  which  we  cannot  under- 
stand— Nothing  gained  by  theory  of  carnal  presence — Our  theory  not 
tending  to  debase  the  Sacrament — Scholasticism — Weakness  of  Beren- 


C02fTENTS.  xiii 

PAGE 

garius — He  comes  upon  the  stage — Advanced  views  which  have  become 
unpopular — He  twice  recants,  and  dies — Substance  and  xiccidents — 
Trausubstantiation  and  its  consequences 298 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

LATIlf   CHURCH   TO   THE   TRIDENTINE   ERA. 

Pristine  glory  and  sad  decline  of  Rome — The  wretched  character  of  many 
popes — General  deterioration  of  the  ministry — Moral  tendency  of  cer- 
tain false  doctrines — Rome  estopped  from  denying  these  charges — Palli- 
ating circumstance  to  be  found  in  universality  of  degeneracy — Probably 
painted  as  more  thorough  than  it  really  was — Doctrinal  condition  of 
Latin  Church — Its  status  as  an  organization — Council  of  Trent  (1545- 
1563) — Causes  of  hatred  between  Romanists  and  Protestants — A  plea 
for  charity  and  justice 315 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CONTINENTAL   REFORMATION. 

Luther — Real  question  before  us  regarding  Lutheranism — Doctrine  of  Pri- 
vate Judgment — The  Lutheran  Body  not  a  Church — Lay-baptism — 
Position  of  English  Reformers  upon  this  question — Consideration  of  the 
plea  that  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  communions  have  prospered  so 
greatly — Calvinism — Closing  reflection 331 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

ENGLISH    CHURCH. 

Settlement  and  early  history  of  England — Its  conversion — Augustine — 
Columba — Roman  interest  gradually  predominates — The  Danes — Nor- 
mans— Henry  II. — Magna  Charta — Robert  of  Lincoln — Wycliffe — The 
English  Church  submissive  to  the  Papacy — Henry  VIII. — Erastianism 
— English  independence — Henry  not  the  cause  of  the  English  reforma- 
tion— His  tyranny  injui'ious  to  it — Defense  of  Henry,  as  acting  accord- 
ing to  law — As  having  been  right  in  annulling  an  incestuous  marriage 
— The  one  great  impediment  to  reform  lay  in  the  doctrine  of  Papal 
Supremacy — This  obstruction  brought  to  light — Caution  and  reverence 
in  revising  doctrine — Gradual  emancipation  from  Trausubstantiation — 
Other  errors  fall  along  with  this — Influence  of  Continental  Reformers — 
Reformation  not  perfect — The  Church  question  as  viewed  by  Cranmer 
and  others — We  are  justified  in  regarding  it  differently — The  English 
liturgies — Articles  of  religion  necessary — The  various  series — Continuity 
of  organization — English  reformation  not  an  accident — Difference  be- 
tween destruction  and  renovation — Trials  of  the  Church — Her  preser- 
vation   340 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

AMERICAif    CHURCH, 

PAGE 

Colonization  of  America — Independence  achieved — Material  progress— Lack 
of  Conservatism  a  national  fault— Supplied  by  the  Church— Puritan- 
ism— American  Church  a  free  one — Long  deprived  of  bishops — These 
obtained  at  last — The  daughter  church  does  not  cease  to  be  a  branch  of 
the  Catholic  Communion— Woful  condition  of  colonial  church— Sad 
results— Saved  by  sound  theology  of  the  English  divines- Her  present 
condition — True  policy — Uer  hope 373 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

nirOKTAI^CE   OF   THE    SUBJECT. 


The  temper  of  the  age  is  to  take  little  account  of  the  claims 
advanced  by  conflicting  sects,  or  even  by  rival  religions.  So 
extremely  tolerant  have  we  become  that  "we  care  little  to  ask 
Avhether,  indeed,  a  fellow-man  has  any  religion  at  all.  The  old 
contentions  which  drowned  nations  in  blood  about  differences  of 
creed  excite  in  the  most  of  us  no  emotions  whatever  but  those  of 
wonder  that  reasonable  beings  should  ever  have  engaged  in  them, 
and  of  pity,  not  unmingled  with  contempt,  for  the  moral  condition 
which  made  it  possible  to  become  excited  upon  such  themes  as 
gave  rise  to  them.  Most  of  all  have  we  agreed  that  the  belong- 
ing to  this  denomination,  or  that,  or  to  any  at  all,  is  a  matter  of 
no  importance  whatsoever.  In  this  respect  the  Christian  world 
has  greatly  changed,  not  only  since  the  Sixteenth  Century,  but 
since  those  early  ages  of  the  Faith  to  which  some  still  look  back 
witli  so  much  reverence,  which  indeed  none  who  believe  in  the 
Bible  can  afford  to  despise.  Time  was  when  it  was  very  generally 
held  that  there  was  absolutely  no  salvation  outside  of  the  one, 
holy,  catholic  and  apostolic  church ;  and  that  was  when  the  men 
had  not  yet  been  taken  from  earth  who  had  been  taught  by  the 
living  voice  of  the  Saviour ;  and  though  we  should  conclude  that 
this  very  general  opinion  of  the  early  Christians  was  a  mistake 
growing  out  of  the  engrafting  of  a  false  philosophy  upon  the  pure 
teachings  of  Christ,  yet  we  would  be  obliged  to  admit  that  the 
mistake  was  not  only  a  very  natural  one  to  men  strongly  tinctured 
with  the  exclusiveness  of  Judaism  and  fired  with  the  fervor  of 
converts  in  the  youth  of  a  religion,  but  also  a  very  pardonable  one 


12  TEE  CHURCH  A^^D   THE  FAITH. 

to  students  of  the  jSTew  Testament  when  criticism  had  not  yet 
learned  to  be  as  dispassionate  as  it  has  now  become,  seeing  that 
the  very  commission  which  sent  out  the  heralds  of  the  Gospel 
upon  that  glorious,  but  most  arduous  and  perilous,  service  of 
preacliing  Jesus  and  the  Resurrection  to  all  nations,  was  accom- 
panied with  the  awful  announcement  that  those  who  should  reject 
their  message  would  be  condemned;  and  what  could  that  mean  but 
condemned  at  the  final  judgment?     Xor  will  sound  philosophy 
warrant  the  application  of  a  diflercnt  rule  to  religion  from  that  to 
which  everything  else  is  found  to  conform.     Herbert  Spencer  has 
doubtless  done  a  good  service  to  the  world  in  emphasizing  the 
truth  that  governments,  by  attempting  to  do  too  much,  seriously 
interfere  with  the  beneficial  workings  of  natural  laws ;  and  by  that 
very  argument  strengthens  the  position  maintained  by  the  vast 
majority  of  intelligent  and  thoughtful  men  that  the  happiness  and 
misery,  the  prosperity  and  declension,  of  nations  depend  largely 
upon  the  character  of  the  institutions  under  which  they  live.     It 
is  rather  late  to  claim  that  humanity  owes  nothing  to  the  mighty 
efforts  of  the  old  Roman  legislators.     Most  of  us  would  be  rather 
impatient  of  the  thesis  that  the  rule  of  tlie  Turk  is  as  advantageous 
as  that  of  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  or  even  that  there  is  any 
other  form  of  government  whatever  the  substitution  of  which  for 
our  owTi  ought  to  be  contemplated  M'ith  indifference.     Yast  sums 
of  money  are  being  expended,  huge  outlays  of  time  made,  incal- 
culable effort  directed,  and  immense  interest  lavished  each  year, 
in  every  civilized  nation,  upon  legislation ;  and  when  it  comes  to 
amending  constitutions,  that  is  hedged  about  with  such  safeguards 
that  it  certainly  looks  as  though  mankind  at  large  were  persuaded 
of  the  importance  of  these  things,  as  though  they  were  decidedly 
of  opinion  that  good  laws  are  better  than  bad  ones,  and  a  sound 
constitution  preferable  to  a  defective  one.     It  is  not  easy  to  see 
how  institutions,  systems,  organizations,  political    and  social  in 
character,  can  be  of  so  much  moment,  and  those  religious  in  char- 
acter of  none  at  all ;  unless,  indeed,  religion  itself  is,  as  so  many 
seem  to  be  convinced,  of  no  consequence.     The  organization  of 
the  stellar  universe   is  of  importance  ;    the  organization  of  the 
human  being  is  of  importance  ;  the  organization  of  the  political 
fabric  is  of  importance ;  and  therefore  we  may  not  rashly  conclude 
that  the  organization  of  men  as  religious  beings  is  not  of  extremely 
grave  importance  also. 


lyrPOBTANCE  OF  THE  SUBJECT.  I3 

"We  Lave,  it  is  true,  come  to  see  that  men  cannot  be  con- 
denmed  for  what  is  not  their  fault,  that  heathen  who  have  had  no 
opportunity  of  learning  about  the  Christ  cannot  be  cast  awaj  by  a 
just  Deity  because  tliey  do  not  believe  in  Ilim.  It  is  perfectly 
evident  to  us  of  this  generation  that  every  man  who  strives  to  do 
the  best  he  can  under  the  circumstances  of  his  life  must  be  com- 
mended and  accepted,  for  having  obeyed  the  law  which  he  found 
written  within  him,  or  at  least  having  tried  hard  and  persever- 
ingly  to  obey  it,  by  the  God  who  so  loved  us  that  He  sent  His 
only-begotten  Son  to  take  away  the  sins  of  the  world.  It  is  also 
axiomatic,  or  nearly  so,  that  we  are  bound  to  recognize  the  Fruits 
of  the  Spirit  wherever  we  find  them,  without  distinction  of  creed 
or  sect,  and  to  regard  those  as  true  followers  of  the  Lamb  whom 
we  see  to  be  such.  Do  then  these  two  self-evident  propositions, 
that  a  man  must  be  commended  for  doing  as  well  as  he  can,  and 
that  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  must  be  acknowledged  where 
the  proper  tokens  are  seen,  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Church 
question  is  devoid  of  significance  ? 

That  a  man  should  be  admitted  into  heaven  is  not  all,  for  even 
if  all  are  admitted  into  the  same  heaven  and  then  are  surrounded 
in  all  respects  by  the  same  environment,  that  no  more  insures  an 
equality  of  enjoyment  than  a  similar  identity  of  treatment  would 
on  earth.  Place  a  savage  in  a  palace,  plunge  a  sybarite  in  a 
boundless  forest  overrun  with  game,  and  neither  is  likelv  to  thank 
you  for  his  fate.  So  long  as  individuals  are  individuals  they  are 
what  they  are,  and  what  they  are  is  largely  the  product  of  their 
life  histoiy.  Every  servant  may  receive  the  same  coin  of  wages  in 
that  he  is  admitted  into  bliss,  and  yet  one  rule  over  ten  cities  and 
another  over  five.  A.  saint  does  not  leave  his  character  behind 
when  he  ascends  the  skies,  but  carries  with  him  a  certain  definite 
capacity  of  enjoyment.  He  must  be  dull-spirited  who  does  not 
see  how  great  the  diflerences  are  in  point  of  ability  to  engage  in 
worship.  One  person  dies  who  has  acquired  the  habit  of  close 
communion  with  God,  and  to  whom  ecstatic  states  of  devotion 
are  by  no  means  unfamiliar  ;  and  another  departs  this  life  who  has 
done  little  more  than  barely  tolerate  exercises  of  public,  family, 
and  private  devotion,  perhaps  punctiliously  complying  with  the 
forms  but  throwing  no  heart  into  the  worship:  is  it  conceivable 
that  the  latter  should  be  as  happy  as  the  former  in  the  presence 
of  the  God  whom  they  have  approached  so  diflferentlv  ?     Or  com- 


14  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

pare  two  persons,  one  of  whom  has  been  taught  in  his  youth  to 
entertain  the  loftiest  conceptions  of  the  Triune  God  and  to  adore 
Him  in  all  the  beauty  of  holiness  with  all  the  helps  afforded  bv 
the  grandest  services,  and  the  other  has  groped  blindly  after  the 
ideal  of  his  soul  and  struggled  all  his  life  against  the  depressing 
influences  of  early  prejudices  and  degrading  superstitions,  know- 
ing that  God  is,  and  striving  earnestly  to  find  Him,  crying  aloud 
to  some  One  and  hardly  distinguishing  Him  from  a  thousand  idols 
that  his  forefathers  have  made  for  themselves :  can  we  suppose 
that  death  places  them  upon  an  equality  so  that  the  one  is  as 
capable  of  entering  into  the  sublime  praises  of  God  as  the  other? 
"Whether,  then,  it  be  allowable  to  conjecture  the  existence,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  "  Jerusalem  which  is  above,"  of  heavenly  Cesarreas, 
Antiochs,  Romes,  Alexandi'ias,  as  homes  for  those  who  have  not 
enjoyed  the  advantages  of  God's  hol}^  Church  on  earth,  it  plainly 
does  not  follow,  from  the  impossibility  of  believing  that  a  man 
will  be  eteraallv  lost  raerelv  because  he  died  in  iernorance  of 
Christianity,  that  it  is  not  well  worth  our  while  to  preach  and 
teach  Christianity  to  the  heathen. 

Then,  as  regards  the  second  proposition,  could  it  be  demon- 
strated, notwithstanding  the  extreme  difficulty  of  gauging  the 
relative  spiritualit}'  of  different  persons,  that  there  is  truth  in  the 
common  assertion  that  equally  good  persons  are  nurtui-ed  under 
all  Christian  creeds,  this  would  onlv  show  that  the  Almio-htv's 
hand  is  not  tied  up  by  His  own  ordinances,  but  that,  while  He 
chooses  to  set  metes  and  bounds  to  His  customary  workings,  He 
sometimes  sees  fit  to  transcend  these  self-imposed  limitations  and 
to  bestow  His  grace  otherwise  than  He  has  by  promise  obligated 
Himself  to  do.  A  whole  nation,  or  even  the  great  majority  of  an 
entire  generation,  might,  for  all  we  know  to  the  contrary,  be  in 
such  an  abnormal  condition  that  the  Lord  might  judge  it  expedi- 
ent to  treat  the  members  of  it  almost  as  if  they  actually  belonged 
to  His  Church,  whereas  the  real  truth  were  that  they  did  not  so 
belong.  There  might  be  good  reasons,  nevertheless,  for  maintain- 
ing the  distinctive  features  of  the  Church,  whether  these  reasons 
should  be  evident  to  people  in  general,  or  not.  The  story  of  the 
many  sects  which  at  different  periods,  since  the  Son  of  Man  with- 
drew His  visible  presence  from  earth,  have  sprung  into  being  with 
more  or  less  vehement  claim  to  be  the  truest  embodiment  of  dis- 
cipleship,  teaches  us  not  to  be  hasty  in  judging  that  a  new  denomi- 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  SUBJECT.  15 

nation  is  all  that  it  wishes  ns  to  believe  that  it  is.  A  tree  is 
known  by  its  fruits,  to  be  sure,  but  the  excellence  of  those  first 
gathered  may  be  sought  in  vain  upon  the  twigs  of  the  second 
year.  Science  instructs  us  that  varieties  improved  by  cultivation 
tend  to  revert  to  the  original  and  greatly  inferior  type :  in  nothing 
is  this  law  more  unvarying  than  in  the  progress  of  religious  so- 
cieties. The  new  doctrine  may  brave  with  impunity  the  attacks 
of  logic,  and  submit  with  equal  assurance  to  the  inspection  which 
the  naturally  religious  heart  brings  to  bear  upon  everything  which 
comes  within  its  field  of  vision ;  it  may  proudly  point  to  vast 
companies  of  men  and  women  who  have  been  trained  by  its  in- 
fluence into  loftiness  of  soul  and  correctness  of  life ;  it  may  even 
adduce  many  proofs  that  Providence  is  enlisted  upon  its  side, 
gathered  from  apparent  interpositions  in  its  behalf;  and  yet  this 
fair  exterior  may  cover  much  which  God  discerns  very  plainly, 
though  man  suspect  not  its  presence  then,  nor  discover  it  till 
generations  have  aflorded  scope  for  its  complete  development. 
Alas !  universally  do  we  trace  this  tendency  to  deteriorate ;  in 
church  and  sect  alike  does  the  discerning  eye  perceive  it.  As  in 
man,  so  in  everj^  religious  organization  good  and  evil  wage  inter- 
necine strife  for  the  mastery,  and  temporarily  at  least  evil  often 
gains  the  upper  hand  ;  then  woe  to  the  organization  !  Sweeping 
a  rapid  glance  over  all  the  countries  that  have  ever  been  called 
Christian,  and  then  narrowing  our  view  to  the  great,  if  small, 
continent  of  Europe,  there  singling  out  nation  by  nation  for  the 
purpose  of  scanning  its  religious  history,  and  perhaps  pausing  at 
last,  not  without  silent  lament,  upon  the  wreck  of  old  Father 
Tiber's  Pride,  let  us  honestly  say  whether  the  deplorable  drift  is 
not  everywhere  discernible.  How  then  shall  good  eventually 
triumph  ?  The  reply  is  not  unheard :  Let  everything  go  on,  let 
religion  clash  with  religion,  sect  vie  with  sect,  church  emulate 
church,  each  modifying  and  gradually  ameliorating  the  other,  and 
all  slowly  welding  themselves  together  into  the  great  Church  of 
the  Future.  A  hopeful  theory.  As  nation  undergoes  attrition  with 
nation,  each  rounding  off  the  other,  one  borrowing  its  neighbor's 
inventions  and  improvements,  and  repaying  them  in  kind  and 
with  interest,  and  all  Europe  the  while  steadily  marching  forward 
in  civilization,  so  shall  it  be  with  churches.  Is  Christianity,  then, 
an  outgrowth  of  civilization,  a  development  of  religious  instinct, 
and  not  a  divine  revelation  ?     If  so,  it  may  be  left,  as  civilization 


16  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

is  measurably  left,  to  take  care  of  itself;  but  if  it  be  indeed  beyond 
man's  inventive  power,  a  something  sent  down  from  heaven  to 
meet  an  urgent  human  need,  what  chance  is  there  that  it  will 
survive  the  inide  handling  it  is  sure  to  receive,  unless  the  same 
gracious  Being  who  gave  it  to  an  unappreciative  world  shall  mer- 
cifully continue  to  foster  it  ?  The  Church  is  here,  like  her  Lord, 
for  no  selfish  purpose.  She  exists  for  a  world-wide  purpose, — to 
witness  for  God  to  all  the  earth,  and  her  influence  penetrates  into 
the  I'emotest  and  most  hidden  corners  of  bc»th  hemispheres  where 
men  name  the  name  of  Christ.  Upon  the  Church  of  God's 
own  building,  wherever  and  whatever  that  Church  be,  must 
depend  the  hopes  of  a  struggling,  groaning,  sorely-afflicted  Chris- 
tendom. Standing  amid  the  surging  billows  a  rock-based  beacon, 
her  light  flashing  far  across  the  deep  at  least  serves  to  warn  such 
vessels  as  with  dracijinfi'  anchors  are  driftin2:  away  from  safe 
moorage.  Extinguish  that  one  steadfast  gleam,  and  how  long 
Avould  it  be  till  the  whole  fleet  should  have  lost  itself  in  the 
trackless  expanse  of  doubt,  ignorance,  and  sin  ? 

If  there  be,  as  all,  in  some  sense,  who  believe  in  the  Bible, 
must  confess  there  is,  such  a  Church,  it  cannot  without  manifest 
irreverence  be  asserted  or  implied  that  this  Church  is  very  similar  to, 
hardly  distinguishable  from,  a  railroad  meeting  no  public  demand, 
opening  up  no  valuable  tract  of  land,  aflfording  a  market  for  no 
considerable  amount  of  produce,  but  just  laid  out  and  completed 
by  some  wasteful  caj)itali3t  to  gratify  an  unaccountable  impulse ; 
for,  with  all  solemnity  be  it  said,  how  can  we  justify  the  expendi- 
ture of  labor  and  care  by  our  Saviour  in  constructing  a  road  to 
heaven,  if  when  made  it  is  found  no  more  secure,  no  better  in 
any  way,  than  a  thousand  others  which  all  conduct  to  the  same 
destination  ? 

"We  may  not  severely  blame  any  age  for  thinking  that  the 
millennium  is  near,  but  we  are  not  obliged  to  adopt  that  theory 
ourselves.  Great  as  may  be  our  present  attainments,  they  proba- 
bly are  not  as  great  as  men  are  capable  of  reaching,  nor  even  by 
any  means  as  perfect  as  they  should  be,  taking  into  consideration 
the  length  of  our  spiritual  genealogies  and  the  evident  rule  that 
each  generation  ought  to  be  better  than  the  preceding  one.  It  is 
to  be  feared  that  much  of  our  common  Christianity  is  merely 
nominal.  There  are  vast  numbers  of  people  among  us  who  are 
unaflEected  by  Christianity,  and  not  a  few  who  stand  hostilely  dis- 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  SUBJECT.  17 

posed  towards  it.  A  pure  and  unmitigated  paganism  burst  fortli 
in  tlie  French  Eevolution,  and  surges  up  to  the  surface  at  times 
now.  The  very  alphabet  of  our  religion  seems  to  be  unknown  to. 
agitators  for  social  and  political  reforms.  Fashion  invades  the 
churches.  Money  for  charitable  and  pious  uses  is  not  so  much 
given  to  the  Lord,  as  it  is  extorted  by  methods  which  are  really 
not  much  more  effective  than  they  are  commendable.  The  ob- 
servance of  Sunday  threatens  to  become  obsolete.  The  practice 
of  family  worship  is  thought  to  be  dying  out.  In  short,  there  is 
much  in  our  modern  Christianity  which  might  ex]3erience  a 
change  to  the  great  advantage  of  us  all.  A  religion  which  does 
not  in  the  long  run  advance,  can  hardly  be  the  true  one,  for  it  can 
hardly  be  alive.  Each  succeeding  generation  should  not  only  be 
better  instructed  in  divine  things,  but  should  inherit  natures  made 
more  spiritual  by  the  upward  struggles  of  the  parents,  every  such 
struggle  working  its  way  as  a  formative  and  permanent  element 
into  the  character.  How  dare  we  doubt  tlie  future  ?  Surely  we 
have  not  reached  the  climax  of  spirituality  attainable  on  earth, 
and  just  as  surely  the  religious  standard  is  bound  to  advance  till 
that  is  reached,  unless  we  have  entirely  misunderstood  the  teach- 
ings of  the  centuries.  That  a  better  grasp  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church  will  not  play  a  prominent  part  in  bringing  to  a  realiza- 
tion what  we  thus  hope  and  long  for,  few  would  be  rash  enough 
to  affirm.  Other  doctrines  possess  superior  dignity  ;  it  is,  for  in- 
stance, more  important  to  believe  rightly  concerning  the  Divinity 
of  Christ,  and  yet  the  very  doctrine  now  bsfore  us  is  a  doctrine  of 
Christ, — if  what  the  Scriptures  teach  is  true,  that  the  Church  is  the 
hody  of  Christ. 

Let  us  honor  the  Father  by  honoring  the  Son,  and  let  us  not 
dishonor  the  Son  by  treating  His  blessed  body  with  disrespect ! 
Is  it  asked.  How  far  shall  we  carry  this  reverence  for  the  incar- 
nate Lord?  Opinions  will  differ,  and  yet  some  degree  of  una- 
nimity will  remain.  Who  could  be  found  of  such  stern  texture  as 
to  reprove  a  poor  sufferer  who  should  have  treasured  up  a  frag- 
ment of  that  robe,  by  bare  contact  with  the  hem  of  which  her 
health  had  been  completely  restored  to  her?  Who  can  forget 
the  universality  of  that  astonishing  impulse  which  fired  the  heart 
of  Europe,  and  hurled  its  invincible  chivalry  upon  trembling 
Asia  ?  Is  it  impossible  for  us  to  comprehend  at  all  the  indigna- 
tion with  which  loving  hearts  saw  themselves  excluded  from  the 


18  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH 

spots  once  hallowed  by  the  presence  of  Him  who  came  to  pur- 
chase a  Church  with  His  own  blood,  and  those  ever-memorable 
places  desecrated  bj  worship  paid  to  Allah  in  the  name  of  the 
great  Arabian  impostor?  Even  now,  in  this  era  of  progress  and 
enlightenment,  in  this  day  of  utter  contempt  among  so  many 
for  all  that  savors  of  religious  sentimentalitv,  who  ever  beholds 
from  the  traditional  outlook  upon  Mount  Olivet  the  glistening 
roofs  and  flashing  domes  of  Judah's  ancient  capital  without  a 
thrill  of  emotion  ?  Protestant-  and  Catholic  alike  we  throng  Pal- 
estine's dusty  roads,  and  delve  deep  beneath  the  roots  of  the 
Holy  City,  actuated  by  the  common  impulse  of  love  to  the  match- 
less Being  who  once  dwelt  among  these  scenes.  Shall  the  city 
over  whose  doom  His  tears  were  shed  be  more  sacred  in  our  eyes 
than  the  Church  which  He  came  to  betroth  unto  Himself?  If 
anywhere  on  earth  there  be  such  a  Church,  built  upon  Himself 
and  framed  by  His  own  hands,  though  no  other  reason  could  by 
acutest  human  intellect  be  even  conjectured,  yet  draM-n  towards 
that  Church  by  love  and  reverence  for  its  divine  Founder,  surely 
with  more  than  crusader's  courage,  diligence  and  perseverance 
will  we  urge  on  our  way  through  deserts,  floods,  mountains,  and 
hosts  of  deadliest  foemen,  till  at  last  our  eyes  gleam  with  a  delight 
far  beyond  that  which  pervaded  Godfrey's  army  when  journeying 
onwards  from  Nicaa,  and  Doryl.Tum,  and  the  long-besieged 
Antioch,  they  at  last  beheld  the  glorious  view  open  out  before 
them  from  the  heights  above  Emmaus. 


CHAPTEK  II. 

THEORY    OF   THE    CHTJECH. 


Two  theories  are  widely  held  respecting  the  nature  and  seat  of 
authority  within  the  church,  which  theories,  antagonistic  as  they 
may  seem,  let  it  be  our  task  to  reconcile  with  each  other,  so  far  at 
least  as  to  show  that  they  are  not  mutually  destructive;  nor  let 
us  be  dismayed  though  the  discussion  should  be  found  to  involve 
an  examination  of  the  most  intricate  problems  of  political  science. 
Of  these  the  one  searches  for  all  authority  in  those  who  occupy 
the  seats  of  the  Apostles  as  being  divinely  commissioned,  em- 
powered, and  guided  ambassadors  on  earth  of  the  King  of  kings, 
the  only  ones  who  ought  to  have  any  voice  in  legishition,  any 
share  in  witnessing,  or  power  in  administration  ;  while  the  other 
seeks  this  authority  in  the  collective  body  of  believers,  maintain- 
ing that  the  Church  of  Christ  is  a  society  in  M'hich  reigns  perfect 
equality  of  rights  and  from  which  emanates  all  prerogative  of 
ministerial  function.  And  thus  the  tocsin  sounds,  warning  Mo7i- 
archist  and  Repullican  to  range  themselves  in  hostile  fronts  and 
unsheathe  the  weapons  of  religious  warfare.  Without  entering 
into  the  arena  of  politics  farther  than  the  necessity  of  the  case 
seems  to  compel,  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  altogether  the  dust  and 
unpleasant  odor  of  that  much-trodden  floo-. 

The  attempt  to  institute  a  model  government  has  not  yet  at- 
tained conspicuous  success.  As  most  flattering  to  human  pride 
the  theory  of  popular  rule  has  now  the  most  numerous  following 
in  many  enlightened  countries,  and  daily  counts  its  proselytes  with 
much  exultation.  Just  one  century  since,  a  republic  was  intro- 
duced upon  the  stage  of  the  New  World  amid  the  throes  of  a 
gigantic  struggle  in  which  the  infant  matched  its  thews  and  sinews 
with  the  practiced  muscles  of  earth's  mightiest  kingdom.  The 
babe  was  no  barbarian's  child,  but  the  offspring  of  highly  developed 
man,  inheriting  both  noble  qualities  of  head  and  heart  character- 


20  THE  CHVRCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

istic  of  the  predominating  Anglo-Saxon  race,  and  a  ricli  treasury 
of  tradition.  Under  what  more  favorable  circumstances  could  any 
republic  have  begun  its  career  than  did  the  Thirteen  States,  deeply 
imbued  by  nature,  as  descendants  of  the  Commons  of  England, 
with  an  invincible  love  of  liberty  and  a  sincere  reverence  for  law 
and  order,  and  guided  by  such  men  as  "Washington,  Jefferson, 
Franklin,  Hamilton,  and  the  Adamses,  men  trained  under  that 
matchless  embodiment  of  common  sense  and  high  wisdom,  the 
English  Common-law  ?  The  Constitution  drawn  up  by  students 
of  the  lore  of  ages  taught  by  the  experiences  of  their  forefathers 
during  the  Great  Eebellion  and  the  despotic  rule  of  the  Tudors, 
and  adopted  by  the  young  commonwealth,  was  no  Utopian  scheme 
of  a  recluse  philosopher,  but  one  that  ten  decades  of  additional 
experience  have  hardly  been  able  to  improve  upon.  Yet  thought- 
ful and  patriotic  men  hesitate  now  before  pronouncing  the  attempt 
at  democratic  government  an  assured  success.  The  public  opin- 
ion, upon  the  influence  of  which  so  much  stress  has  been  laid  all 
along,  has  not  shown  itself  adequate  to  the  task  of  maintaining  in 
high  places  that  integrit}',  purity,  and  elevation  of  sentiment, 
which  were  found  when  the  incomparable  hero  retired  to  his  an- 
cestral acres  to  await  the  summons  that  should  crown  Mt.  Yernon 
W'ith  a  halo  of  sanctity,  and  of  which  the  continued  absence  must 
soon  realize  the  novelist's  fiction  of  "  Glek-Xas  "  or  "  Universal 
Strife-Rot." 

Certain  objections  can  easily  be  raised  against  the  very  theory 
of  a  democracy.  As  long  as  men  continue  what  they  are,  always 
have  been,  and  seem  likely  to  remain  ;  as  long  as  the  average  free 
man  is  not  inaccessible  to  bribery  (if  the  proffered  sum  is  large 
enough)  at  the  polls,  or  in  the  jury-box,  or  wheresoever;  as  long 
as  the  populace  is  devoid  of  wisdom  sufficient  to  decide  upon 
intricate  points  of  public  policy  and  international  law,  of  discern- 
ment to  pass  upon  the  merits  of  various  candidates  for  office,  and 
above  all  of  self-restraint  to  prefer  definitely,  and  decisively, 
and  in  practice,  lasting  advantage  to  the  mere  whim,  craving,  or 
passion  of  the  hour ;  as  long,  in  fine,  as  the  mass  of  mankind  are 
unconverted^  some  people  will  strive  in  vain  to  satisfy  themselves 
that  the  rule  of  that  mass  must  of  necessity  result  in  advancing 
the  highest  interests  of  all.  If  on  the  one  hand  the  sway  of  a 
single,  arbitrary  wnll  be  almost  sure  to  impel  the  ship  of  state  irre- 
sistibly towards  the  quicksands  of  Oriental  servitude,  on  the  other 


THEORY  OF  THE  CHURCH.  21 

no  rule  is  so  utterly  cruel,  heartless,  unscrupulous,  blind,  furious, 
and  destructive  as  that  of  a  moh. 

If  we  look  for  a  'perfect  form  of  government  we  shall  search  in 
vain,  as  we  shall  also  if  we  seek  one  that  is  made  obligatory  upon 
us  by  any  principles  of  right  reason  and  natural  equity.  "VVe  are 
not  born  with  the  right  to  rule  ourselves,  but  under  an  imperative 
necessity  and  a  divinely-sanctioned  duty  to  obey  our  parents ;  and 
as  the  very  circumstance  of  being  forced  by  our  birth  upon  a 
household  which  owes  us  nothing  but  maintenance,  protection,  and 
education  obliges  us  to  conform  to  the  regulations  of  that  house- 
hold in  which  Divine  Providence  has  placed  us,  so  the  mere  fact 
of  having  seen  the  light  for  the  first  time  beneath  the  broad  iblds 
of  our  proud  flag  may  be  thought  to  adjust  upon  our  shoulders,  as 
by  divine  mandate,  the  yoke  of  subjection  to  the  authority  duly 
constituted  in  this  land,  whether  it  be  republican,  aristocratic,  or 
monarchical.  The  desirable  and  attainable  government  upon 
earth  is  the  one  in  which  the  balance  of  conflicting  influences  and 
interests  and  powers  is  best  preserved  ;  in  which  the  advantages  of 
all  species  of  governments  are  most  happilj''  combined  to  the  most 
thorough  exclusion  of  their  disadvantages.  The  groundwork  of  this 
government  may  be  of  democratic  cliaracter,  but  modified  much 
more  than  it  is  even  now  in  the  United  States,  by  the  introduction 
and  incorporation  of  the  best  elements  of  autocracy  and  aristocracy. 

Whatever  may  be  urged  concerning  the  inherent  riglits  of 
man  when  we  are  engaged  upon  matters  of  temporal  rule,  the 
most  heedless  might  be  expected  to  pause  before  transporting  the 
same  ideas  into  the  religious  realm.  Shall  man  talk  of  his  natu- 
7'al  and  inalienable  rights  heiore  his  God?  What  right  has  the 
sinner  but  the  awful  claim  upon  his  due  share  of  everlasting  tor- 
ment and  Almighty  wrath  ?  Kone  whatever.  Man  may  impiously 
rebel  against  his  eternal  sovereign,  but  he  will  do  so  at  his  peril ; 
over  all  alike,  redeemed  and  unredeemed,  reigns  one  absolute  and 
unquestionable  and  omnipotent  and  all-wise  Will.  What  rights 
man  has  are  conceded,  to  him  in  kindness  and  mercy,  not  yielded 
as  his  inherently.  If  the  Church  of  God  be  republican  in  its  con- 
stitution, it  is  so  because  its  Supreme  Founder  thought  best  to 
ingraft  somewhat  of  republicanism  upon  the  absolutism  of  His 
righteous  domination,  not  because  it  would  have  been  inequitable 
for  Him  to  establish  a  dominion  as  absolute  as  that  of  Peter  of 
Russia  or  Innocent  of  Rome. 


22  THE  CHVRCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

The  dangers  wliieli  threaten  dominion  everywliere  threaten  it  in 
the  religious  sphere.  If  Guizot  or  DoUinger  or  Pusey  ^vere  called 
upon  to  frame  an  ideally  perfect  constitution  for  a  new  church, 
they  would  employ  their  minds,  it  may  be  supposed,  in  guarding 
against  certain  known  evil  tendencies.  If  there  is  one  of  these 
which  would  tower  high  above  all  others,  it  is  the  drift  towards 
extreme  centralization.  Place  all  authority  in  a  caste,  and  gradu- 
ate that  authority  in  ascending  scale  until  almost  irresponsible 
power  becomes  vested  in  a  very  few  holding  their  office  for  life, 
and  visions  loom  before  the  startled  imagination  of  the  Papacy 
and  its  Curia.  AVith  caste  interests,  feelings,  enthusiasm,  the 
priesthood,  swaying  an  influence  M-hich  flows  from  the  other  world, 
controlling  the  destinies  of  eternity  as  well  as  of  time,  soon  learns 
its  power  and  exerts  it  with  ever-growing  unscrupulousness  to  the 
gradual  ruiniug  of  its  proper  usefulness.  AVaxing  fat  upon  the 
rich  food  that  loads  its  once  frugal  board  it  forgets  self-denial,  self- 
control,  meekness,  charitableness,  continence,  sobriety.  Not  only 
does  the  pulpit  cease  to  rebuke  vice,  or  denounces  it  with  such 
faintness  that  silence  were  better,  but  the  wicked  lives  of  the 
gluttonous,  avaricious,  and  lustful  shepherd  infect  the  flock.  Now 
and  again  a  firm  hand  grasps  the  reins  and  retains  them  long 
enough  to  ride  over  many  a  champion  of  law  and  liberty,  till  in 
the  lapse  of  ages,  the  caste  culminates  in  a  niler  who  acknowl- 
edges no  restraint,  and  fears  no  superior,  and  submits  his  conduct 
to  no  judgment;  while  far  below  surges  an  indiscriminate  mass  of 
unthinking  souls  which,  renouncing  all  right  to  employ  the  in- 
dividual mind  in  the  search  for  truth  or  the  determination  of  right, 
take  the  law  from  the  priest's  mouth  so  slavishly  that  Manhood 
slinks  away  from  the  pitiful  sight. 

On  the  other  side,  the  perils  are  scarcely  less.  Taught  that 
no  authority  resides  in  the  ministry,  save  what  the  people  may 
see  fit  to  delegate,  and  thus  tlirown  back  each  individual  upon 
himself  as  the  sole  and  competent  judge  of  eveiy  question  of  truth 
or  duty  that  may  come  before  him,  what  shall  prevent  the  man 
from  becoming  unduly  inflated  with  a  sense  of  his  own  impor- 
tance, and  demonstrating  this  presently  by  throwing  off'  all  that 
restrains  the  humble-minded  when  tempted  to  stray  into  for- 
bidden fields  or  scale  unsafe  heights;  by  presumptuously  ques- 
tioning all  revelation,  and  resolving  mystery  and  miracle  into 
ignorance   and   credulity;   by  rejecting   all  aid  from  the  wise. 


THEORT  OF  THE  CHURCn.  23 

learned,  and  pious  in  deciding  and  explaining  the  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  by  spurning  at  the  superstitions  of  temple  and  jDublic 
worship,  in  order  to  bestow  an  undeserved  exaltation  upon  tlie 
fictitious  sjoirituality  of  unspoken  praise  and  prayer ;  and  finally 
by  leaping  tlie  hedges  of  morality  in  order  to  roam  at  large  with 
the  plea  in  his  mouth  that  the  notion  of  wrong  is  only  the  mis- 
take of  a  trammeled  intellect  ?  Yes,  dear  reader,  if  the  one  ten- 
dency has  written  itself  in  characters  of  vivid  brightness  upon  the 
sad  pages  of  Eoman  story,  the  other  has  drawn  the  outlines  and 
begun  the  shading  of  a  picture  that  grows  darker  every  hour 
since  the  mighty  convulsion  of  the  sixteenth  century  set  upon 
its  feet  the  principle  of  democracy  well  nigh  crushed  in  Europe 
beneath  the  heel  of  Leo.  Are  we  not  justified,  then,  in  looking 
for  some  organized  society  in  which  neither  pure  monarchy  nor 
pure  democracy  exists,  but  a  fit  blending  of  the  two?  Or  shall 
we  approach  the  investigation  predetermined  to  reject  everything 
that  wears  the  semblance  of  the  slightest  departure  from  what 
never  was  realized  upon  earth,  nor  ever  will  be,  an  absolutely 
pure  rule  of  the  'many  ? 

Still,  the  impartial  mind  must  confess,  under  no  circumstances 
can  the  Church  merit  the  unmitigated  abhorrence  of  the  lover  of 
liberty.  To  what  but  the  Church  do  we  owe  the  universal  eman- 
cipation of  Christendom  from  serfdom  ?  During  those  ages  w^ien 
Liberty  seemed  to  have  no  shrine  in  all  the  earth,  those  ages 
which  awaited  the  downfall  of  Constantinople,  in  order  that 
imprisoned  learning  might  break  forth  and  visit  the  West  so 
long  immersed  in  ignorance,  what  stood  forth  as  the  protector 
of  the  poor,  the  guardian  of  the  oppressed,  the  foster-nurse  of 
talent,  courage,  and  enterprise?  "VVhither  could  an  aspiring 
youth  turn,  sure  that  the  obscurity  of  his  birth  would  j^rove  no 
insurmountable  obstacle  to  advancement  ?  In  what  ranks  did 
every  one  stand  free  and  equal,  except  so  far  as  talent,  genius,  or 
what  was  held  to  be  the  divine  commission,  promoted  the  worthy  ? 
Protestantism  did  not  create  liberty,  any  more  truly  than  it  did 
the  Bible  or  the  Faith.  The  true  idea  of  liberty,  that  of  scope  to 
follow  out  one's  highest  interests  under  the  restraint  and  protec- 
tion of  just  and  wise  law,  without  compulsion  or  annoyance,  this 
is  the  root  idea  of  the  Christian  life  :  it  was  only  natural  that  this 
conception,  vague  and  indefinite  perhaps,  but  still  gradually 
crystallizing,  should  transfer  itself  to  the  civil  life.    Thus  Religion, 


2-1,  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

as  understood  by  the  Christian,  becomes  inevitably,  unless  Re- 
ligion herself  be  sadly  mangled,  the  mother  of  civil  liberty.  Such 
has  she  been  always,  and  such  may  she  continue  till  the  last 
refuge  of  the  oppressor  has  disappeared  before  her  advance. 

It  is  time  to  see  what  kind  of  a  Church  our  Saviour  did  found. 
Tov»'ards  the  close  of  His  visible  ministry,  lie  honored  His  im- 
mediate followers  with  a  charge  that  has  very  much  the  sound  of 
a  high,  distinct,  and  personal  commission,  the  record  of  which  is 
contained  in  certain  well-known  passages  of  the  Bible  not  to  be 
omitted  from  any  scheme  of  divinity  tliat  is  to  gain  the  ear  of 
such  as  reverence  inspiration.  Tlie  charge  to  go  into  all  the 
world,  teach,  preach,  and  baptize  may  have  been  given  to  the 
Twelve  alone;  and  so  to  them  only  may  have  been  addressed  the 
promise  of  peqietiial  presence;  but  how  shall  we  prove  this  to 
the  degree  of  certainty  that  seems  to  be  required  by  what  we  may 
call  the  MonarcJilcal  theory  of  Ecclesiastical  Authority?  Even 
admitting  that  the  demonstration  can  reach  a  high  ji^'olaliliti/^ 
that  seems  an  insecure  foundation  for  the  vast  edifice  we  wish  to 
erect  upon  it.  No  exclusive  language  is  used  in  any  case  which 
forbids  our  imay;inin<'  that  the  whole  number  of  the  one  hundred 
and  twenty  were  present,  together  with  the  eleven,  when  Jesus 
entered  the  apartment  in  which  they  were  assembled,  or  disap- 
peared fi'om  their  heavenward  gaze,  and  sent  down  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  cloven  tongues  of  fire ;  and  it  is  perfectly  apparent  that 
the  inclusion  of  a  single  presbyter  or  layman,  who  remained  such, 
in  the  commission,  invalidates  the  whole  theor3%  The  utmost 
that  can  be  said  is  that  the  eleven  are  mentioned  with  a  certain 
particularity.  Well !  Is  there  no  conceivable  reason  for  this 
care  to  specify  that  chosen  band,  except  that  to  them  alone  were 
the  mandatory  words  spoken  ?  Besides,  such  an  interpretation  as 
is  put  upon  these  passages  militates  against  the  general  drift  of 
the  Acts  and  the  Epistles,  which  represent  the  whole  Church,  and 
not  any  particular  class  within  it,  as  being  the  special  recipient  of 
the  divine  bounty  and  object  of  God's  loving  care  and  marked 
favor,  and  moreover  as  possessing  corporate  life  and  delegated 
power. 

But,  even  granting  that  to  the  Apostles  alone  were  originally 
given  the  commission,  the  promises,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  what 
results?  They  did  not  sufier  the  commission  to  expire  with  the 
last  survivor,  nor  did  they  selfishly  strive  to  retain  the  grace  of 


THEORY  OF  THE  CHURCH.  25 

God  within  their  twelve  souls  alone,  and  the  promises  manifestly 
stretch  on  far  beyond  the  brief  duration  of  their  lives.  On  the 
Church's  birthday  we  behold  them  imparting  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  unto  tlu'ee  thousand  converts,  of  whom  the  great  majority 
can  hardly  be  supposed  to  have  been  ordained  to  the  ministry. 
At  once,  then,  we  have  a  great  number  of  souls  added  to  the 
Church,  and  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  Furthennore,  whither- 
soever the  Gospel  penetrates,  the  whole  multitude  of  converts 
indiscriminately  receive  the  same  gift  by  the  laying  on  of  apostolic 
hands,  and  become  saints,  viemher'S  of  the  hody  of  CJirist,  temples 
of  the  IIolij  Ghost.  May  we  not  justly  inquire  to  what  intent 
and  purpose  the  Divine  Spirit  condescended  to  take  up  His  resi- 
dence in  ordinary  Christians,  the  rank  and  file  (so  to  speak)  of 
the  great  army  ?  Did  He  do  this  merely  to  satisfy  the  private 
wants  of  the  individual  ?  Emphatically,  no !  He  imparted  to 
them  His  life-giving  power  in  order  that  they  might  play  their 
parts  manfully  in  the  great  contest,  in  order  that,  being  organic- 
ally united  with  the  Head  in  heaven,  they  might  be  permeated 
and  invigorated  by  the  divine  life,  and  fulfill  each  his  own  func- 
tion in  the  living  body.  Whatsoever  prerogatives  and  powers 
the  Apostles  possessed  they  transmitted  to  others,  nor  solely  to 
those  who  were  to  goveni  the  Church  as  their  own  successors  and 
substitutes,  but  to  presbyters,  deacons,  and  laymen,  enduing  each 
with  an  appropriate  measure  of  divine  grace  to  enable  them  to 
stand  in  their  appointed  lots.  Thus  as  the  Church  expanded, 
each  and  every  soul  added  to  it  by  complete  apostolic  baptism 
became  a  vital  part  of  its  organism,  participating  in  the  duties, 
privileges,  blessings,  and  gifts  of  the  original  Twelve ;  and  this, 
although  by  hypothesis  these  were  in  the  first  place  bestowed 
upon  them  exclusively. 

Now,  is  this  hypothesis  capable  of  definite  establishment  ?  It 
was  shown  above  that  its  correctness  cannot  certainly  be  deduced 
from  the  texts  which  are  understood  to  convey  the  commission ; 
but  that  was  by  no  means  equivalent  to  an  admission  that  it  can- 
not be  proved  at  all.  We  need  not,  however,  attempt  to  demon- 
strate any  more  than  this :  if  others  were  present  and  addressed 
by  our  Lord  on  those  memorable  occasions,  then  either  from  fail- 
ure to  understand  Him,  remissness,  or  faithlessness,  no  one  of 
them  ever  undertook  to  exercise  coordinate  power  with  the 
Twelve  unless  by  them  advanced  to  the  episcopate.     If  any  such 


26  THE  CEURCn  AND   THE  FAITH. 

instance  existed  it  is  exceedingly  strange  that  the  world  has  not 
lieard  of  it.  On  the  contrary  all  evidence,  direct  and  indirect, 
combines  to  evince  that  all  power,  authority,  and  grace  were  un- 
derstood, in  the  primitive  ages,  to  emanate  from  the  Apostles  as  a 
necessary  iniermedlate  source,  a  something  not  unlike  in  some 
respects  a  grand  distributing  reservoir.  We  need  not  surely  be 
greatly  concerned  about  what  might  have  happened,  if  some  of  our 
modem  theorists  had  been  on  hand  to  whisper  in  the  ears  of  some 
score  of  disciples,  who  along  with  the  chosen  band  witnessed  our 
Lord's  Ascension,  that  they  had  been  empowered  to  act  in  the 
capacity  of  leaders  and  foundei-s  as  well  as  Peter,  John,  or  Mat- 
thew ;  for  none  such  were  there  to  perplex  the  Church  ;  and  if  the 
idea  ever  entered  their  own  minds  it  never  resulted  in  any  course 
of  action  antagonistic  to  the  Twelve,  but  died  still-born.  Nor  is 
this  open  to  the  objection  that  it  is  reasoning  from  what  was  to 
what  ought  to  have  been,  for  there  has  been  nothing  said  about 
what  ought  to  have  been,  a  matter  which  does  not  directly  concern 
us  at  all.  In  sylkigistic  form  our  argument  frames  itself  with  a 
postulate  for  a  minor  premiss :  All  authority  to  act  for  God  and 
convey  His  mercies  to  mankind  must  come  from  Him  ;  and  for 
the  major:  Since  the  death  of  the  last  man  who  heard  the  human 
voice  of  Christ  no  authority  has  existed  as  derived  from  God 
through  any  other  than  the  apostolic  channel;  from  all  which  we 
are  permitted  to  draw  the  conclusion  absolutely  affirming  that : 
Since  that  date  no  authority  to  act  for  God  with  mankind  in 
His  Church  lias  existed  except  such  as  can  distinctly  trace  out 
its  derivation  from  that  intermediate  fountain.  If  Washington 
had  been  defeated  at  Trenton,  and  either  taken  captive  or  driven 
into  the  Delaware,  the  English  would  have  subjugated  the  colo- 
nies, and  later  granted  letters  patent,  under  the  royal  seal,  for  the 
rich  bottom  lands  of  the  West ;  but  Washington  was  not  defeated, 
and  the  Declaration  of  Independence  did  not  become  the  death- 
warrant  of  its  signers,  and  a  grant  from  King  George  or  Queen 
Victoria  would  not  nov/  entitle  the  holder  to  standing  room  east 
or  west  of  the  Mississippi.  AVhat  might  have  heen  cannot  affect 
what  is. 

That  this  is  to  a  certain  extent  reasoning  backwards  need  not 
be  denied :  it  does  amount  in  a  great  measure  to  explaining  the 
Lord's  meaning  by  His  hearers'  understanding  of  it,  and  ascertain- 
ing that  by  their  action  under  it.     If  my  readers  are  disposed  to 


THEORY  OF  THE  CHURCH.  27 

regard  this  as  unsatisfactory,  I  join  tliem  in  saying  that  it  would 
be  more  satisftictory  to  build  directly  upon  an  unquestionable  in- 
terpretation of  His  blessed  words  ;  only,  unfortunately,  that  seems 
impossible :  Avherefore  wisdom  requires  the  adoption  of  the  next 
best  method,  or  the  best  that  we  can  connnand,  M'hich  course  we 
humbly  conceive  has  now  been  adopted. 

We  must  not,  however,  peremptorily  close  the  investigation  just 
where  we  choose.  "While  this  method  has  thus  far  largely  favored 
the  Monarchical  theory  by  establishing  the  divine  authority  as 
residing  in  the  ministry,  it  may  presently  be  seen  to  carry  us 
away  in  a  very  different  direction.  If  I  mistake  not,  toleral)ly 
plain  indications  of  this  probabiHty  have  ah*eady  insisted  upon 
manifesting  themselves.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  the  Apostles  seem 
assured  that  they  have  the  exclusive  power  to  ordain  and  to  ad- 
minister sacraments  and  to  conlirm,  and  that  they  also  possess  the 
right  and  ability  to  convey  more  or  less  of  their  priestly  authoi-ity 
to  men  who  shall  rule,  administer,  and  oflSciate  in  the  subordinate 
orders  of  the  Presbyterate  and  the  Diaconate,  they  seem  no  less 
clear  upon  another  point,  that  the  Church  is  not  composed  of  a 
ministry  only.  "What  idea  displays  itself  from  the  pen  of  St. 
Luke  when  he  informs  us  that  "  the  Lord  added  to  the  Church 
daily  such  as  should  be  saved "  ?  How  were  they  added  ?  As 
something  exterior  and  extraneous,  clinging  to  the  skirts  of  the 
Church  ?  Surely  not ;  for  is  it  not  also  said  that  the  converts 
"  continued  stedfastly  in  the  Apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship, 
and  in  breaking  of  bread,  and  in  prayers  "  ?  Made  by  baptism 
and  confirmation  participants  in  the  wondrous  gift  of  the  divine 
Spirit,  the  laity  were  admitted  into  full  communion  and  fellow- 
ship, and  invited  to  unite  in  public  worship  and  to  partake  of  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Some  portions  of  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians 
would  be  hardly  intelligible  did  we  deny  to  the  laity  all  share  in  the 
administration  of  discipline.  Can  we  forget  the  language  of  the 
fifteenth  chapter  of  Acts:  "Then  pleased  it  the  Apostles  and 
elders  ivith  the  whole  Church,  to  send  chosen  men."  Is  that  con- 
sistent with  the  exclusion  of  the  laity  from  all  voice  in  the  deter- 
mination of  matters  of  the  faith  ?  Listen  above  all  to  St.  Jude 
writing  unto  all  those  who  are  "  sanctified  by  God  the  Father,  and 
preserved  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  called,"  with  the  exhortation, 
"  That  ye  should  earnestly  contend  for  the  faith  which  was  once 
delivered  " — not  to  Apostles,  not  to  the  ministiy,  but  to  the  entire 


28  THE  CnURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

Clmrcli — "  to  the  saints.''^  Indeed,  are  not  all  said  to  be  "  priests" 
unto  God  ?  The  laity  may  not  without  great  sin  and  danger 
presume  to  exercise  the  especial  functions  of  the  priesthood,  but 
must  be  in  some  true  and  important  sense  qualified  to  approach 
near  unto  their  God  both  in  word  and  act,  in  order  to  justify  the 
application  to  them  of  that  title.  Is  it  not  almost  sure  that  Con- 
firmation administered  according  to  its  original  intention  is  a 
minor  species  of  ordination  ?  Conveying  the  Holy  Ghost  to  all 
who  had  not  been  baptized  by  the  hands  of  those  who  had  ordain- 
ing power,  did  it  not  bestow  upon  them  enlightenment,  guidance, 
and  strength  from  above,  and  if  so,  were  not  their  enlightenment, 
guidance,  and  strength  necessary  parts  of  the  full  measure  vouch- 
safed to  the  entire  body  ?  That  the  apostolate  had  more  of  this 
grace,  is  no  reason  why  we  should  pass  over  in  oblivion  what 
little  the  commonalty  received,  for  the  inferior  species  or  lesser 
measure  may  be  just  as  necessary  in  its  way  and  degree  as  the 
superior  and  more  abundant. 

Have  we  not  now  pronounced  clearly  in  favor  of  the  Demo- 
cratic theory  of  Church  government.  If  convinced  that  the 
Spirit  is  diffused  in  power  and  authority  throughout  the  entire 
body,  it  is  natural  enough  at  first  glance  to  lose  sight  of  the 
importance  of  ministerial  authority,  under  the  supposition  that 
an  organization  instinct  with  the  Spirit  must  be  fully  competent 
to  appoint  its  own  ofticers.  Here,  however,  it  will  be  prudent  to 
tread  with  extreme  caution.  AVhy,  we  ask,  muHt  such  a  body 
possess  that  power?  There  is  no  reason  why  God  should  not 
retain  the  appointing  power  in  His  own  hand,  and  exert  it  Him- 
self personally  or  through  the  medium  of  agents;  but  there  is 
sufiicient  justification  for  His  refusal  to  man  of  such  unlimited 
liberty  as  this  would  imply,  to  be  found  in  the  need  there  always 
is  for  many  restraints  to  be  put  upon  the  willfulness  of  our  race. 
The  pith  of  the  whole  matter  is  perhaps  of  some  such  consistency 
as  this  :  the  minister  is  not  intended  to  be  the  servant  of  his  flock, 
but  the  ambassador  of  God,  who  may  often  have  occasion  to  use 
the  strongest,  sternest,  severest  language  of  Elijah  or  Jeremiah. 
His  position  should  be  a  somewhat  independent  one,  for  how  else 
shall  he  summon  courage  to  speak  like  the  austere  Baptist,  or 
after  the  pattern  of  that  meek  Sufiferer  who  yet  denounced  woe 
upon  the  enemies  of  truth  repeatedly  and  in  such  awful  terms  ? 
The  preacher  of  extraordinary  fearlessness  may,  moved  only  by 


THEORY  OF  THE  CnUROE.  29 

Lis  own  mi(juencliablc  horror  of  wrong  and  love  of  the  riglit, 
boldly  cry  aloud  and  spare  not ;  but  we  cannot  expect  to  depend 
for  our  regular  supply  of  clergymen  upon  the  hope  of  finding 
extraordinary  men ;  and  even  had  we  thousands  of  such  cham- 
pions, how  could  they  bear  up  against  the  contemptuous  wrath 
of  a  people  always  ready  to  shout,  You  are  our  creatures!  Do  as 
we  bid  you  ?  How  immeasurably  better  will  it  be  for  the  people 
to  understand  plainly  that,  though  they  themselves  may  elect  their 
presbyter  or  bishop,  the  man  of  their  choice  would  thrust  his  feet 
into  the  shoes  of  Korah  should  he  presume  to  stand  at  the  altar  or 
the  font  before  God's  commission  had  been  conveyed  to  him  by 
apostolic  ordination  !  If  some  catastrophe,  such  as  that  cruel  feast 
of  the  dying  Idumean,  should  destroy  the  entire  episcopate  to  a 
man,  the  Church  would  have  heard  its  death-knell  in  the  voice 
that  carried  the  news  :  not  all  the  priests,  deacons,  and  laymen  in 
the  world  could  make  a  single  humble  deacon,  nmch  less  a  suc- 
cessor to  the  high  seat  of  an  Apostle.  To  teach  the  great  lessons 
of  humility,  dependence,  and  reverence,  and  to  clothe  the  pro- 
phetic office  with  the  independence  necessary  for  it  to  act  faith- 
fully the  watchman's  part  in  Zion,  God's  wisdom  reserved  to  itself 
the  power  of  putting  into  ministerial  position. 

Then,  on  the  other  side,  the  bishop  can  effect  little  or  nothing 
without  the  Church,  less,  if  possible,  than  the  Church  without  its 
bishop.  In  a  state  of  excision,  he  can  confirm  and  ordain,  but  he 
is  as  powerless  as  an  unborn  babe  to  bestow  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  In  all  the  old  disputes  about  converts  fi'om  heretical  and 
schismatical  sects,  the  Church  never  wavered  about  this  matter  ; 
there  was,  it  is  true,  some  question  as  to  whether  the  fornn  of 
schismatical  ceremonies  and  rites  was  to  be  repeated,  but  no 
one  seems  to  have  imagined  for  a  moment  that  an  excommuni- 
cated bishop  could  carry  the  spirit  of  peace,  order,  and  law  away 
with  him  in  his  departure  from  the  One  Fold.  Those  baptized, 
confirmed,  and  ordained  outside  of  that  fold  must  in  some  way  be 
given  the  "  Peace  of  the  Church,"  or  they  remained  alien  to  its 
life  forever,  and  had  no  share  in  the  divine  promises.  There  is 
held  to  be  such  a  thing  as  a  corporate  life  of  the  Church,  some- 
thing which,  in  close  analogy  with  the  physical  life,  penetrates  to 
the  remotest  extremity  of  the  finest  nerve  and  vein,  and  resides 
not  exclusively  in  brain,  spinal  column,  lungs,  or  heart.  If  the 
head  be  Christ,  it  may,  perhaps,  not  improperly  be  said  that  the 


30  TEE  CEURCE  AND  TEE  FAITE. 

Episcopate  is  a  great  nerve  which  conveys  to  every  part  of  the 
body  the  mandates  of  the  Lord :  sever  that  nerve,  and  the  body 
becomes  atrophied  and  dies;  still  the  life  is  not  all  in  one 
nerve,  nor  in  all  the  nerves  together.  Besides  the  connection 
through  the  nerves,  the  head  is  united  with  the  body  by  arterial 
and  venous  circulation :  similarly  from  Christ  flows  through  one 
channel  authority,  through  another  life. 


CHAPTER    III. 

EPISCOPACY. 


Hating  hitherto  assumed  that  the  governmeiit  of  the  Apostolic 
Church  was  of  the  kind  we  call  Episcoj)al,  we  must  briefly  exam- 
ine the  correctness  of  this  assumption.     The  proof  that  the  Apos- 
tles did  transmit  their  plenary  authority  to  an  order  of  men  who 
presently  came  to  be  styled  Bishops,  who  alone  had  permission 
and  commission  to  perpetuate  the  ministry,  and  beneath  whom 
were  the  two  subordinate  orders  of  Presbyters  and  Deacons,  is 
both  Biblical  and  historical,  and  so  clear,  strong,  full,  and  well 
known  that  a  rapid  sketch  of  it  will  answer  every  purpose  of  this 
discussion.     That  the  Episcopal  theory  satisfies  all  requirements 
of  the  sacred  text,  afibrding  easy  and  satisfactory  explanation  of 
the  most  obscure  and  indirect  allusion,  as  well  as  of  the  direct 
and  formal  narrative,  has  been  shown  so  repeatedly  that  it  may 
not  be  amiss  to  regard  it  as  a  res  judicata,  at  least  until  the 
numerous  and  powerful  treatises  taking  this  side  of  the  question 
have  been  adequately  answered,  and  especially  until  some  flaw 
has  been  discovered  in  the  elaborate  argumentation  of  Bishop 
Cotterill,  in  his  "Genesis  of  the  Church,"  a  work  constructed 
according  to  the  methods  of  modern  science,  and  evolving  by  the 
inductive  process  so  much  lauded  now,  from  a  collation  of  the 
various  passages  in  the  inspired  writings,  that  very  ecclesiastical 
system  at  which  is  hurled  the  bitterest  invective  of  philosophic 
thought.     As  for  uninspired  history,  its  testimony  is,  if  possible, 
yet  more  unequivocal ;  its  whole  weight  is  thrown  into  the  same 
scale.    The  scholar  who  can  rise  from  a  perusal  of  theante-N"icene 
writers  with  any  doubt  that  Ignatius,  Polycarp,  Irenaeus,  Clem- 
ent, Cyprian  knew  of  no  other  ecclesiastical  system,  must  be  im- 
pregnable  to   any  reasoning  we  can  bring  to  bear  upon  him. 
Nevertheless,  the  fact  is  the  contrary  position   has   been  main- 
tained by  large  numbers  of  learned,  able,  and  pious  men,  not  in- 
ferior to  any  in  extent  and  accuracy  of  historical  knowledge,  nor 


32  THE  CnURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

in  general  impartialness  of  judgment,  and  this  state  of  tlie  case 
calls  for  a  fuller  treatment  of  the  subject  than  it  really  deserves. 

The  view  of  ministerial  authority  entertained  by  the  Vatican 
is  virtually  anti-episcopal,  but  shall  receive  a  very  brief  notice 
and  a  peremptory  dismissal.  As  has  been  pointed  out  by  the 
learned  Barrow  and  many  others,  the  papal  theory  is  built  on  a 
series  of  untenable  assumptions:  these  rival  each  other  in  fictitious- 
ness,  and  yet  all  must  be  substantiated,  or  else  the  whole  fabric 
falls.  If  a  certain  supremacy  was  bestowed  by  the  Master  on  St. 
Peter,  it  is  still  necessary  to  adduce  some  proof  that  this  preced- 
ency or  supremacy  was  to  survive  his  own  life ;  if  this  be  clearly 
established,  the  next  step  must  be  to  affix  this  prerogative  to  the 
one  who  should  succeed  to  that  particular  chair  which  he  occu- 
pied, a  matter  of  extreme  difficulty  in  the  eyes  of  those  who 
remember  that  the  Twelve  had  no  metes  and  bounds  of  terri- 
torial jurisdiction,  and  that  each  probably  ordained  numerous 
bishops;  and  then, this  impossible  advance  having  been  made,  it 
would  still  remain  to  demonstrate  that  St.  Peter  ever  was  at 
Rome,  and  if  he  was,  that  he,  and  not  St.  Paul  or  some  other 
bishop,  ordained  Linus  or  whoever  first  presided  over  the  im- 
perial city.  It  is  not  a  breach  of  Christian  charity  to  affirm  dis- 
tinctly that  the  extraordinary  claims  of  Pome  are  supported 
wholly  ni)on  falsehood  and  forgery.  "What  answer  can  be  given  to 
the  convincing  demonstration,  or  rather  to  the  terrible  revelations, 
of  "Janus"?  Upon  "Decretals"'  wrongly  Withered  upon  Isidore 
of  Seville,  two  centuries  subsequent  to  the  archbishop's  death,  in 
the  reign  of  Nicholas  L,  who  employed  them  to  overwhelm  Ilinc- 
»,mar  of  Rheims ;  npon  the  careless  and  nnscrupulous  work  of  a 
monk  of  the  twelfth  century,  known  as  the  "  Decretum  Gratiani ;" 
and  upon  the  celebrated  "  Donation  of  Constantine,"  forged  in 
the  reign  of  Charlemagne;  upon  these  and  such  like  clumsy 
and  unprincipled  efforts  to  ante-date  documents  that  could  only  be 
made  valuable  through  that  artifice,  rests  the  mighty  throne  of 
him  who,  with  nnblushing  cheek,  calls  himself  successor  to  the 
humble  fisherman  of  Galilee.  It  must  be  tolerably  safe  to  dis- 
regard pretensions  that  have  so  little  self-confidence  as  to  prop 
themselves  np  Avith  such  supports  as  these.  If  the  primitive 
Church  had  been  papal  there  would  surely  be  extant  some  better 
proof  of  the  fact  than  has  yet  been  forthcoming. 

An  opposing  theory  has  adopted  a  mode  of  proof  not  charge- 


EPISCOPACY. 


33 


able  with  double  dealing,  equivocation,  and  downright,  systematic 
fabrication  of  testimony  like  the  former,  but  hardly  better  able 
than  it  to  square  itself  with  the  just  and  acknowledged  rules  of 
historical  study.  When  we  ask  for  some  tokens  that  the  Church 
oi'  the  first  century  was  Presbyterian  or  Congregational,  what 
more  substantial  food  is  put  into  our  mouths,  famishing  for  a  gen- 
eral pacification  of  Christendom,  than  conjectures  wholly  unsup- 
ported by  reliable  testimony?  Where  is  the  smallest  tragment 
from  apologist,  historian,  commentator,  preacher,  theological 
writer,  or  panegyrist  that  does  not  countenance  Episcopacy  fully 
as  much  as  either  an  equality  of  bishops  and  presbyters,  or  an 
unmitigated  Congregationalism  ?  Instead  of  laying  before  us  the 
documentary  evidence  required  as  an  offset  to  the  almost  num- 
berless passages  adducible  by  the  other  side,  the  supporters  of 
anti-episcopal  theories  favor  us  unanimously  with  a  confession  that 
we  would  not  have  ventured  to  seek  at  their  hands. 

In  the  middle  of  the  second  century  the  Church  everywhere 
was  governed  by  bishops.  Lo !  here  is  a  concession  of  the  whole 
dispute  !  If  the  entire  Church  at  such  an  early  date  was  episco- 
pally  governed,  and  no  proof  can  be  brought  forward  of  any  dif- 
ferent state  of  afiairs  having  at  any  time  obtained,  why !  the  dis- 
cussion is  at  end,  and  drawing  in  our  oars,  we  may  drift  placidly 
with  the  current.  :N"ay,  not  so.  To  be  sure  there  is  no  proof,  nor 
even  anything  that  can  be  tortured  into  proof,  scarcely  so  much  as 
a  sentence  or  a  clause  that  can  be  taken  away  from  its  context  and 
twisted  and  molded  so  as  to  look  that  way, — that  any  change  had 
occurred  up  to  that  date ;  but  ingenuity  can  be  set  at  work  to 
devise  some  process  by  which  episcopacy  gradually  supplanted 
the  purer  and  more  perfect  form  of  really  primitive  government, 
and  to  invent  some  reason  that  this  should  have  taken  place.  And 
so  we  are  treated  to  elaborate  schemes  of  Episcopal  usurpation 
fabricated  by  active  and  fertile  brains,  and  that  have  a  general 
aspect  characteristic  of  the  compulsory  products  of  hard-pushed 
minds  bestridden  by  favorite  theories.  Our  purpose  is  by  far  too 
serious  and  too  kindly  to  admit  of  indulgence  in  ridicule ;  there- 
fore let  us  not  laugh  at  the  straits  of  these  theorists,  but  do  our 
best  to  convince  them  of  their  mistakes. 

Let  us  first  measure  the  dimensions  of  our  conceded  fact. 
Everywhere  the  Church  in  the  second  century  was  Episcopal. 
One  exception,  however,  has   been   unearthed    by  diligence  of 


34  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

exploration   hardly  excelled  by  Layard  or  Livingston.     In  the 
Church  of  Alexandria,  Jerome  is  supposed  to  tell  us,  the  custom 
had  existed  fi-om  the  very  days  of  St.  Mark,  that  when  the  See 
had  become  vacant  the  presbyters  should  meet  together,  elect  a 
new  bishop  from  their  own  number,  and  advance  him  without 
further  ceremony  to  the  empty  seat.     Yet  Jerome,  almost  in  the 
same  breath,  says  that  there  is  this  difference  between  a  bishop 
and  a  presbyter,  that  the  former   has   the  power  of  ordaining. 
Now,  Jerome  does  not  say  that  after  the  bishop  had  been  chosen 
he  did  not  repair  to  the  successors  of  the  Apostles  to  receive  con- 
secration, nor  do  the  words  properly  ivi2>ly  that  he  did  not  so  do, 
as  any  one  can  see  who  will  be  at  the  pains  to  consult  the  ipsissima 
verha  of  that  learned  writer.     Whatever,  though,  may  have  been 
the  case  at  Alexandria,  the  Alexandria  of  Cyril  and  Athanasius, 
the  economy  of  the  residue  of  the  churches  is  not  in  any  doubt 
at  all.     In  the  Holy  Land,  where  the  Church  was  cradled,  bish- 
ops had  ruled  in  regular  succession  from  St.  James.     At  Antioch 
was  a  settled  episcopate.     The  seven  Apocal^-ptic  Churches  bear 
witness   to   the    unvarying    custom   in   Asia   Minor.      Parthia, 
India,    the  whole   East   had  bishops,  if  it   had    Christianity  at 
all.      Greece,   Italy,    Spain,    Gaul,    Britain    acknowledged    the 
lawful  sway  of  Apostolic  officers.     Xor  must  Korthern   Africa 
be  forgotten  in  such  a  survey.     How  had  such  a  total  and  unre- 
corded change  been  effected?     Is  it  not  strange  that  no  single 
national  Church,  with  the  more  than  doubtful  exception  of  the 
Alexandrian,    had    retained    the   original    system?      That   over- 
mastering influence  swept  from  the  farthest  Orient,  from  beyond 
the   utmost   reach   of  Alexander's    conquering    advance,    across 
Persia,  Babylonia,  and  Mesopotamia,  across  Syria,   Arabia,  and 
Egypt,  unchecked  by  Bosphorus  or  Hellespont,  by  Euphrates  or 
Po,  enveloping  Rome,  Milan,  and  Aries  in  its  resistless  progress, 
nor  stopping  till  the  blue  waters  of  the  wide  Atlantic  rolled  before 
it  unploughcd  by  keel  of  believing  mariner;   nor  left  in  all  that 
boundless  territory  one  smallest  society  of  Christians  unvisited, 
nor  so  much  as  a  vestige  or  a  memory  to  indicate  the  work  it  had 
accomplished.     ISTever  flood  nor  sand-storm,  avalanche  nor  lava- 
torrent  did  its  work  of  effacement  so  completely.     No  blackened 
tree-stump,  nor  unsubmerged  peak,  nor  splintered  mast-head,  nor 
protruding  pillar  or  obelisk,  nor  even  a  gray  mound,  remained  to 
tell  the  story  of  what  had  been.     Not  a  fragment  of  the  broken 


EPISCOPACY.  35 

ship,  not  a  rag  of  clotliing:,  has  been  cast  up  on  the  shores.     Like 
the  Cities  of  the  Plain  these  old  institutions  have  vanished,  and 
no  eye  can  penetrate  the  dense  waters  to  the  buried  walls  over 
which  surge  the  billows  of  centuries;  not  even  a  Lot  has  escaped 
to  remind  us  of  the  past,  nor  has  one  single  spectator  committed 
to  tradition  even  that  he  beheld  the  signs  of  the  destruction  from 
afar.     Are  revolutions  accustomed  to  be  so  complete,  instantane- 
ous, and  unresisted  ?      Imagine  all  Europe  converted  upon  the 
instant  into  a  vast  sisterhood  of  republics,  or  the  United  States 
into  an  absolute  monarchy,  and  all  done  so  thoroughly  that  every 
one  forgot  what  had  been  before,  never  even  mentioning  the  past 
in  any  hour  of  discontent,  nor  telling  to  the  young  by  the  blazing 
hearth  the  tale  of  the  revolution !     History  has  not  omitted  to 
preserve  the  story  of  contests  for  power  that  broke  out  among  the 
followers  of  Mohammed  almost  before  he  was  cold,  and  contiuued 
until  different  caliphates  had  established  themselves  by  the  strong 
hand.     What  revolution    ever   took  place   unheeded   and   unre- 
corded?    Ideas  may  circulate  among  the  masses  for  long  years 
unnoticed  save  by  a  few  close  and  ftir-seeing  students  of  political 
aifairs,  but  by  and  by  the  suppi-essed  forces  break  forth,  the  city 
is  barricaded,  the  palace  sacked,  the  Bastile  demolished,  and  a 
Reign  of  Terror  inaugurated  that  will  be  remembered  till  it  is  at 
last  eclipsed  by  the  awfulness,  and  horror  to  the  wicked,  of  the 
Judgment  Day.     History  passes  unnoticed  the  tranquil  happiness 
of  a  prosperous  nation,  forgetting  a  whole  century  of  its  advance, 
but  dwells  at  length  upon  the  symptoms,  incidents,  and  results  of 
the  convulsion  which  arouses  it  by  the  summons  to  arms.     Were 
there,  forsooth,  in  tlie  Church  of  God,  endowed  as  it  was  with  the 
glorious  freedom  of  serving  the  Lord,  deeply  imbued  with  the 
steadfast  courage  that  dreads  no  pain  nor  agony,  and  not  deficient 
in  independence  and  vigor  of  thought,  no  sturdy  presbyters  man- 
fully to  resist  the  encroachments  of  a  haughty  prelacy,  no  Jeromes 
to  thunder  forth  in  distinct  and  forcible  language  rebuke  to  the 
usurping  and  grasping  spirit  of  their  superiors  ?     Was  there  no 
little  Netherlands  to  brave  the  wrath  of  their  tyrannical  sovereign, 
the  prince  of  all  usurpers  ?     Eather  let  us  be  sure  that  Christen- 
dom would  fairly  have  rung  with  the  shouts  of  the  combatants, 
and  the  latest  ages  would  have  stopped  their  ears  at  the  din. 
Why!     Within   the  first  three    decades  of  its  life  the  Church 
began  to  be  torn  by  the  dissensions  of  such  as  those  who  at 


36  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

Corinth  disputed  St.  Paul's  authority.  Judge  from  his  lan- 
guage concerning  these  men,  whether,  if  disputes  arose  about 
ministerial  authority,  they  were  likely  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
brethren. 

Then,  too,  it  may  not  be  uninstructive  to  consider  the  likeli- 
hood of  the  bishops'   attempting   to   carry  out   such   ambitious 
projects — or  jyi'esbijters,  we  should  say,  inasmuch  as  by  hvpothesis 
they  are  not  yet  arrived  at  the  dignity  after  which  the}'  are  reach- 
ing.    "When  a  man  sought  the  bishopric  what  honors,  privileges, 
aimed  lie  to  gain?     Let  Polycarp  answer  from    the  flames  of 
Smvnia,  or  Ijjrnatius  from  the  teeth  of  the  wild  beasts  to  which  he 
had  surrendered  himself  in  defense  of  his  sheep.     Are  such  the 
men  from  whom  we  expect  self-interested,  avaricious,  or  ambitious 
conduct  ?     Did  Ignatius  raise   himself  by   chicanery,  nepotism, 
bribery,  and  terrorism  above  his  fellow-presbyters  in  order  that  he 
might  bear  the  brunt  of  hatred,  persecution,  and  torture?     The 
confusion  of  dates  is  a  source  of  much  error.     The  Poman  woi'ld 
was  not  yet  converted  and  enlisted  in  support  of  the  Cross :  it  was 
pagan,  heartily,  thoroughly,  madly  pagan,  and  made  holidaj-s  of 
casting  Christians  to  lions  and  tigers,  besides  lighting  the  way  to 
the  revels  by  placing  them,  pitch-besmeared,  at  street-corners,  in 
lieu  of  torches.     A  bishop,  to  the  close  of  this  period,  did  not 
bask  in  the  genial  beams  of  court  ftivor,  but  was  the  grand  arch- 
rebel,  in  the  imperial  mind,  of  a  band  of  low-born,  obnoxious, 
dangerous  conspirators,  who  was  marked  for  especial  hatred  and 
direst  punishment.     Yet  we  are  to  understand  that  such  was  the 
eager  desire  for  high  position,  though  attended  ■with  great  danger 
of  speedy  martyrdom,  that  on  all  sides  men,  forgetful  of  the  dignity 
of  their  calling,  of  the  humility  required  from  the  disciples  of  the 
Crucified,  of  the  terrible  consequence  of  being  found  at  the  last 
beating  the  men-servants  and  maid-servants,  of  the  rebuke  admin- 
istered to  those  who  would  be  gi^eat  in  the  Mngdom  of  heaven, 
were  striving  and  struggling  to  make  the  poor,  suffering,  perse- 
cuted infant  Church  a  ladder  by  which  to  climb  into  bad  preemi- 
nence after  the  example  of  Lucifer,  a  stone  on  ^\'hich  to  sit  and 
inflate  themselves  until  their  swelling  bulk  caught  the  eye  of 
some  hungry  traveler  !     "  Credat  Judaeus  Apella !  " 

Few  who  have  habituated  themselves  to  impartial  reflection 
will  be  blind  to  the  pernicious  consequences  of  thus  substituting 
for  unbiased  investigation  of  reliable  authorities  the  indulgence  of 


EPISCOPACY.  37 

a  sportive  fancy  in  unfounded  conjecture  and  most  unpliilosophic 
theorizing.  If  such  methods  are  permitted  in  the  making  up  of 
our  history,  deplorable  will  be  the  results.  Let  it  once  be  under- 
stood that  a  total,  radical,  universal  revolution  occurred  in  the 
ante-Nicene  period  and  left  behind  no  trace  of  tlie  mighty  con- 
vulsion, what  then  will  remain  to  be  confidently  held  and  believed  ? 
Men  will  demand  to  know  why  other  changes  may  not  have 
taken  place  equally  radical  and  equally  forgotten  and  ignored. 
If  the  whole  constitution  of  the  Church  was  silently  and  imper- 
ceptibly altered  in  a  century  or  two  without  so  much  as  a 
single  fossil  remaining  to  testify  concerning  the  lost  forms  of  life, 
what  assurance  have  we  that  vital  chano-es  were  not  made  in  other 
matters ;  for  example,  in  the  most  fundamental  matters  of  the 
faith?  An  honest  and  well-instructed  infidel,  upon  carefully 
weighing  the  evidences,  would,  it  can  liardly  be  doubted,  say  that 
few  questions  of  the  highest  moment  in  the  whole  range  of  the- 
ology are  capable  of  a  more  definite  determination  than  this  one 
concerning  government.  Take  the  catholic  doctrine  of  Christ's 
divinity.  Wi'iters  can  be  found  as  far  back  as  any  exist  to  give 
color  to  the  Arian  hypothesis ;  nor  does  it  appear  that  the  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  Unitarianism  based  upon  extracts  from  Tertul- 
lian,  Hermas,  Justin  Martyr,  and  others,  have  been  demolished  by 
the  stupendous  powers  and  resources  of  men  like  Bishop  Bull  and 
Dr.  Waterland,  one  whit  more  thoroughly  than  have  been  by 
others  similar  arguments  against  episcopacy.  Mark,  now,  the 
vast  accession  of  probability  that  accrues  to  Arianism  from  the 
fact  that  more  than  one  thousand  years  before  Presbyterianism 
made  its  first  open  struggle,  Arianism  was  on  the  verge  of  a 
complete  triumph.  How  came  it  to  pass,  men  will  inquire,  that 
anti-episcopacy  died  so  quietly,  while  Arianism  fought  for  centu- 
ries with  the  strength,  hardihood,  and  relentless  ferocity  of  a 
tiger?  Then  turning  upon  us,  will  they  not  continue:  "You 
say  that  the  primitive  Church  was  Trinitarian.  Permit  us  to  tell 
you  that  you  never  made  a  greater  mistake  in  your  lives.  The 
early  disciples  inherited  from  Jewish  ancestors  an  indignant 
monotheism  ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  purity  of  the  early  creed  had 
been  sullied  by  the  breath  and  contact  of  paganism  that  this  tenet 
began  to  be  obscured.  By  your  leave,  Trinitarianism  is  the 
usurper.  We  must  regretfully  acknowledge  that  we  cannot 
inform  you  precisely  in  what  year  the  usurpation  became  estab- 


38  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH 

lislied,  nor  can  we  even  exliibit  to  you  a  single  leaf  from  the  tree 
of  original  Arianism ;  but  \ve  can  only  declare  that  we  are  ver\' 
Borry  that  the  upheavals,  deluges,  and  burnings  Avere  so  terrible  as 
to  obliterate  all  traces  of  the  past.  We  are  sure  that  Arianism  is 
right,  therefore  it  must  have  been  the  original  belief;  conse- 
quently, inasmuch  as  it  had  to  be  new-created,  it  must  have 
perished ;  and,  since  no  records  survive,  they  must  have  been 
lost."  The  ghost  of  Episcopius  thereupon,  perceiving  upon  our 
faces  a  smile  not  to  be  concealed  by  the  most  earnest  effort  of 
courtesy,  cries  almost  fiercely :  "  If  our  conjecture  is  baseless 
and  wild,  pray  tell  us  how  the  world  happened  to  awake  one 
morning  and  find  itself  Arian !  If  this  doctrine  had  not  all  the 
while  been  surging  beneath  the  surface,  how  came  it  to  burst  forth 
with  such  impetuosity  and  in  such  volume?"  If  the  supporters 
of  the  anti-episcopal  hypothesis  would  only  pause  long  enough  to 
remember  that  the  various  books  of  the  New  Testament  were  not 
definitely  and  finally  collected  into  one  volume  till  the  fourth 
century,  the  Canon  of  Holy  Scripture  having  previously  been  of 
a  somewhat  fluctuating  and  uncertain  nature,  and  that  many  of 
the  most  important  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith  were  not  for- 
mulated till  even  later,  they  surely  would  feel  extreme  reluctance 
to  introduce  into  the  entire  proof  of  our  religion  such  an  element 
of  uncertainty  as  they  seem  disposed  to  cherish  in  the  bosom 
of  fond  paternity. 

The  fox  in  ancient  fable  looking  up  at  unattainable  grapes 
pronounced  them  sour.  To  constitute  Eenard  the  prototype  of 
the  Continental  reformers  would  be  neither  graceful  nor  accurate. 
Yet  we  must  be  allowed  to  feel  suspicious  of  a  theory  that  wears 
every  appearance  of  being  an  after-thought  invented  to  meet  the 
urgent  rc(piirements  of  a  hard  case.  However,  the  actual  respon- 
sibility of  its  invention  must  be  added  to  the  long  list  of  crimes 
for  which  Roman  ambition  and  avarice  will  be  accountable  before 
the  bar  of  God.  Starting  from  the  level  of  the  episcopal  brother- 
hood, the  so-called  successor  of  St.  Peter  soon  left  far  behind  and 
out  of  sight  the  day  of  his  severe  rebuke  by  St.  Cyprian,  and  after 
a  time  had  raised  his  towering  head  so  far  aloft  that  from  the 
elevation  of  his  pride  an  ordinary  bishop's  throne  seemed  no 
higher  than  the  presbyter's  seat.  The  evidence  of  the  existence 
from  the  very  first  of  a  thi'ee-fold  ministry  being  so  strong  that 
even  papal  arrogance  might  not  disregard  it,  the  only  way  open 


EPISCOPACY.  39 

out  of  this  difficulty  for  the  upward  soaring  of  the  pretender  to  the 
vicegerencj  of  God  was  that  of  consolidating  two  of  the  existing 
orders,  so  that  there  might  seem  to  be  three  only,  when  in  reality 
four  existed.  Seizing  upon  the  fact  that  language  had  often  been 
employed  which  embraced  the  two  orders  in  question  within  one 
common  priesthood,  and  choosing  to  ignore  the  parallel  fact  that  all 
these,  hcm^servants  and  ministers  of  God,  might  with  entire  propri- 
ety be  termed  deacons  or  diaconi,  the  Lord  High-Priest  of  Rome,  in 
public  document  and  private  letter,  indulged  his  vanity  and  sought 
to  advance  his  interests  by  flaunting  this  fact  in  the  faces  of  his 
fellow-bishops,  telling  them  with  insulting  plainness  that  the  whole 
jniesthood  held  its  office  by  the  grace,  and  at  the  pleasure,  of  the 
sovereign  pontiff.  This  false  theory  presently  gained  control  of 
the  minds  of  Western  churchmen,  till  by  the  fifteenth  century  it 
was  almost  universally  held  among  them.  Upon  disenthralling 
themselves  from  the  iron  yoke  of  the  Pope,  the  Reformers  retained 
with  little  question  a  theory  which  suited  them  so  well  as  did  that 
of  the  equality  of  rank  between  Bishop  and  Presbyter,  a  theory 
which  saved  them  the  trouble  and  delay  which  might  have  at- 
tended the  attempt  to  supply  themselves  with  a  valid  episcopate. 
Presbyters  they  had  in  abundance,  for  Luther  and  the  other  leaders 
of  the  movement  had  been  almost  all  of  them  regularly  ordained 
to  that  office  in  the  Romish  Church,  but  Rome  had  taken  such 
good  care  to  fill  the  higher  positions  with  her  own  creatures,  men 
who  were  not  likely  to  display  much  independence  of  thought, 
vehemence  of  zeal,  or  courageousness  of  endurance,  that  bishops 
could  not  be  counted  upon  to  throng  the  highways  of  an  uprising 
against  tyranny  and  false  doctrine.  Nevertheless,  with  such  a 
name  among  them  as  that  of  the  Prince  Archbishop  of  Cologne, 
Hermann  of  glorious  memory,  the  reformers  could  not  plead  in- 
ability to  obtain  the  Succession.  Bishops,  however,  did  not  swell 
their  ranks  in  any  numbers,  and  so  it  was  but  natural  that  they 
should  gladly  close  with  the  teaching  that  proclaimed  them  un- 
necessary, and,  after  they  had  thoroughly  committed  themselves 
to  this  doctrine,  earnestly  attempt  to  show  that  antiquity  sanc- 
tioned it.  But,  as  concerns  us,  when  we  are  able  to  trace  out 
thus  clearly  the  history  of  its  rise  and  progress,  and  also  have  dis- 
covered such  weighty  inducements  to  its  acceptance,  we  are  not 
justly  to  be  blamed  if  in  our  eyes  it  is  enveloped  with  extreme 
suspiciousness,  seeming  to  bear  the  stamp  of  a  make-shift  brought 


40  TEE  CHURCE  AND   TEE  FAITE. 

in  to  serve  a  purpose  and  then  supported  afterwards  with  such 
arguments  as  most  readily  presented  themselves  to  minds  deeply 
interested  to  make  the  most  of  them. 

We  take  leave  of  this  subject  with  the  remark  that  a  doctrine 
which  is  wholly  unsupported  by  positive  evidence ;  which  seems 
to  be  little  more  than  an  arbitrary  conjecture;  which  involves  the 
supposition  of  a  revolution,  as  radical  as  any  that  have  convulsed 
continents,  clearing  away,  and  not  leaving  behind  so  much  as  a 
fleck  of  mist  uj^on  the  face  of  history  ;  which  constitutes  men  at 
once  rapacious  demagogues  and  holy  martyrs;  which  unsettles 
the  whole  foundation  of  the  Christian  faith;  and  which  suited 
so  admirably  the  necessities  of  both  those  who,  if  they  did  not 
introduce  it,  certainly  revived  it  after  a  long  period  of  hiberna- 
tion, and  of  those  who  inherited  and  improved  it,  is  not  one  that 
the  most  imposing  array  of  respectable  authorities  can  redeem  from 
suspicion ;  and  furthermore  that  no  alternative  seems  to  remain 
but  that  of  admitting  the  truthfulness  of  a  theory  so  capable  of 
explaining  all  the  facts  that  no  escape  from  its  conclusiveness 
could  be  found,  but  one  that  does  such  violence  to  history,  religion, 
and  common  sense. 


CIIAPTEH   lY. 

CONTINUri'Y   AND   RISE    OF    THE   CHUECH. 

Much  uncertainty  in  the  theological,  as  well  as  in  the  popular, 
mind  envelops  the  question,  AVhen  did  the  Christian  Church 
begin  to  exist?  This  obscurity  arises  in  a  great  degree  from 
steadily  repressing  the  fiict  that  the  Christian  Church  was  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  Jewish,  Whether  it  M-as  not  the  original  design 
of  God  to  make  the  blending  more  perfect  than  it  really  became, 
to  transmute  visibly  the  synagogue  and  temple  into  church  and 
cathedral, — a  design  which  was  frustrated  through  the  rejection  of 
Him  who  came  primai-ily  to  be  their  Messiah  by  the  bulk  of  the 
Jewish  nation, — may  safely  be  left  to  the  decision  of  any  one  who 
will  carefully  and  without  prejudice  peruse  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to 
the  Eomans,  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews;  but  it  is  manifest 
that,  even  as  the  event  happened,  after  the  stubbornness  and  re- 
belliousness of  that  perverse  race  had  borne  its  proper  fruit,  the 
Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the  Hagiographa  were  scrupulously  re- 
spected, reverenced,  taught,  obeyed,  although  the  Gospel  soon 
had  its  own  sacred  books;  the  old  belief  was  not  in  any  sense 
supplanted,  except  so  far  as  sophistry  had  distorted  it,  but  rather 
ratified,  enlarged,  and  elevated  by  the  new  Revelation  ;  the  sacred 
rites  merely  ceased  by  intrinsic  limitation,  circumcision,  and  the 
offering  of  sacrifices,  really  finding  their  ^prolongation  and  per- 
fection in  Baptism  and  the  Holy  Eucharist ;  the  Aaronic  min- 
istry yielded  up  its  functions  to  the  revived  Melchisedechian 
priesthood,  perpetuating,  nevertheless,  its  threefoldness  in  the 
three  orders  of  the  Evangelical ;  the  observance  of  special  seasons 
was  carried  onward  with  hardly  a  break,  those  of  divine  obliga- 
tion, the  Passover,  the  Feast  of  Weeks,  and  the  Feast  of  Taber- 
nacles, passing  over  into  Good  Friday  and  its  closely-connected 
festival  of  Easter,  the  Christian  Pentecost,  and  Christmas, respect- 
ively ;  and  finally  the  entire  Eemnant,  so  far  as  it  did  not  forfeit 


42  ■       THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

all  claim  to  be  God's  peculiar  people,  was  merged  bodily  into  the 
new  organization,  only  losing  its  own  identity  to  the  extent  im- 
plied iu  a  mighty  advance,  and  an  incorporation  into  itself  of  the 
surrounding  nations,  according  to  those  wonderful  and  glorious 
prophecies  which  cheered  the  darkest  day  of  Israel  with  promises 
that  the  Light  would  shine  from  Zion,  and  all  nations  come  flow- 
ing unto  it.  Born  of  Jewish  parentage,  born  under  the  Law, 
born  heir  to  the  throne  of  David,  and  to  the  whole  circle  of  Mes- 
sianic prophecies,  Jesus,  son  of  Mary,  and  putative  son  of  Joseph, 
bowed  His  own  neck  to  bear  the  yoke  of  rite,  ceremony,  and  ob- 
servance, beginning  Ilis  obedience  on  the  eighth  day  of  Uis  infant 
existence,  and  not  intermitting  attendance,  at  hazard  of  Ilis  life, 
upon  the  services  of  the  temple  at  Dedication  or  Passover,  till 
that  solemn  evening  on  which  He  partook  of  the  last  Paschal 
meal,  and  then  went  to  the  garden  of  the  Betrayal,  His  own 
ministrations  were,  at  least  mainly,  confined  to  descendants  of 
Jacob,  and  not  extended  beyond  the  territorial  limits  of  the 
Promised  Land  ;  and  so  were  those  of  His  commissioned  disciples, 
not  only  during  His  life  on  earth,  but  for  years  thereafter.  To  a 
man,  the  Twelve  were  Jews,  and  so  probably  were  the  Seventy. 
Thus,  it  being  true  that,  while  as  the  Eternal  Son  of  God  Jesus 
Christ  might  well  have  founded  a  Church  entirely  de  novo,  He 
nevertheless  chose  to  follow  the  analogy  of  His  own  regulations 
for  the  ancient  Church,  and  thereby  present  to  mankind  a  most 
striking  instance  and  evidence  of  the  continuity  of  His  dealings 
with  them ;  we  cannot  be  surprised  that  the  exact  point  of  time 
at  which  the  waning  brightness  of  the  evening  succumbed  to  the 
twilight  of  the  dawn  cannot  be  definitely  determined  to  the  satis- 
faction of  everybody. 

The  road  out  of  the  difficulty  follows  for  much  of  its  length 
the  curves  of  a  causeway  lately  erected  by  us.  We  have  seen 
that  a  wide  difference  exists  between  authority  and  life.  The 
Blessed  Master  left  the  one  behind  Him  when  He  disappeared 
from  the  Mount  of  Ascension ;  but  the  other  He  conveyed  not 
until,  having  gone  up  on  high  and  received  gifts  for  men.  He  sent 
in  His  stead  that  Divine  Spirit  which  rested  in  cloven  tongues 
upon  the  assembled  disciples.  It  is  true  that  an  objection  might 
be  grounded  upon  that  most  solemn  act  of  our  Lord,  in  breathing 
upon  the  disciples,  with  the  significant  words,  "  Keceive  ye  the 
Holy  Ghost ; "  but  must  that  not  have  been  a  prospective  dona- 


COXTmUITY  AND  RISE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  43 

tion,  one  anticipatory  of  the  approaeliing  day  of  His  actual  l)e- 
stowment,  conveying  not  tlie  actual  gift,  but  only  the  power  to 
receive  it  ?  The  only  recorded  act,  we  can  safely  aflirm,  of  the 
Apostles  during  the  jDcriod  of  their  waiting,  which  can  be  con- 
strued into  evndence,  that  they  supposed  themselves  to  have  al- 
ready had  imparted  to  them  the  "Promise  of  the  Father,"  in 
reality  rather  negatives  such  a  supposition, — the  election,  hy  lot, 
of  a  successor  to  the  apostate  Judas. 

The  Day  of  Pentecost,  immediately  succeeding  the  Passover 
on  which  her  Lord  was  crucified,  was  the  birthday  of  the  Church. 
What  life  the  Church  had  previously  was  ante-natal.  On  that 
memorable  day  came  to  the  birth,  and  was  safely  ushered  into 
independent  existence  (if  its  present  existence  can  in  any  sense  be 
called  independent),  that  little  infant  which  was  soon  to  grasp  so 
vigorously,  while  yet  in  its  cradle,  the  swelling  throat  of  the  forked- 
tongued  adversary,  and  go  forth  to  cleanse  the  Augean  stables  of 
pagan  abomination,  and  deliver  the  earth,  one  after  another,  from 
the  vices  that  made  havoc  over  its  surface.  Vivifying  originally 
the  congregated  band  in  the  upper  chamber  at  Jerusalem,  this 
heaven-descended  life  soon  extended  itself  to  the  three  thousand, 
and  from  that  time  onward  invigorated  the  multitudes  who  were 
daily  added  to  the  Church.  Authority  had  rested  upon  the 
Twelve  before.  One  had  gone  "  to  his  own  place,"  and  thereupon 
the  authority  had  been  transferred  and  imparted  to  the  one  who 
stood  up  in  his  stead ;  but  thus  far  the  authority  had  been  little 
more  than  a  blank  fonn ;  now,  however,  substance  is  infused  there- 
into, and  the  little  band  becomes  a  living  body,  duly  incorporated, 
and  shielded  by  the  arm  of  Jehovah.  Before  the  Day  of  Pen- 
tecost, the  sacraments,  rites,  and  duties  specifically  Christian 
existed  not,  save  in  an  inchoate  form ;  from  that  date  Christian 
Baptism  began  to  be  administered,  confirming  hands  to  be  laid 
upon  those  baptized,  and  the  Holy  Communion  to  be  consecrated. 
John's  baptism  of  repentance  was  now  replaced  by  that  of  water 
and  the  Spirit.  The  disciples  of  Christ  bestowed  no  longer  the 
comparatively  barren  form  upon  penitents,  but  washed  away 
their  sins  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  regenerated  them  in  the 
fountain  of  eternal  life,  and  gave  them  the  precious  gift  of  the 
indwelling  Paraclete  ;  all  which  operations  were  impossible  until 
Christ  had  paid  the  infinite  price,  conquered  death,  carried  His 
triumpliant  and  glorified  humanity  into  His  rathei*'s  presence, 


44  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

and  by  Him  been  rewarded  with  the  power  of  sending  down  the 
Spu'it  of  life,  and  truth,  and  comfort. 

Thereafter,  almost  imperceptibly,  and  contesting  every  foot  of 
jrround,  Jewish  ceremonies  vanished  from  the  midst  of  the 
Church.  That  converts  from  Judaism  should  have  been  slow  to 
surrender  the  traditions  of  centuries  is  not  greatly  to  their  dis- 
credit ;  some,  perhaps,  will  regard  that  steadfast  adherence  to  the 
past  as  a  bright  testimonial  to  the  solidity,  loyalty,  and  reveren- 
tial ness  of  the  Jewish  character.  Even  the  vehement  Panl  lends 
countenance  to  this  last  view,  when  he  circumcises  Timothy,  and 
shaves  his  own  head  at  Cenchr^ea,  because  he  has  a  vow.  This 
most  zealous  and  utterly  fearless  man  will  not  sufier  any  such 
burden  to  be  laid  upon  the  unaccustomed  back  of  the  Gentile 
converts,  but  will  not  forbid  tlie  Jewish  to  struggle  along  under 
the  imnecessary  load  of  a  burdensome  ceremonial,  if  their  con- 
sciences prompt  them  to  make  the  attempt,  so  long  as  God  has 
not  given  visible  token  that  the  old  has  passed  away.  The  rent 
veil,  exposing  to  uidiallowed  gaze  what  none  but  the  anointed  eye 
of  God's  High  Priest  might  behold,  was  a  hardly  mistakable  sign 
that  the  Almighty  was  displeased  with  His  people,  or  was  passing 
from  them ;  but,  still,  was  not  the  predicted  flash  of  lightning 
shining  from  east  to  west,  and  clearly  revealing  the  close  of  the 
Mosaic  dispensation.  That  flash  lit  the  sky  when  Titus's  sol- 
diery hurled  the  prohibited  brand  against  the  sacred  edifice  and 
wrapped  it  in  the  blaze  of  aimihilation  ;  when  chain,  and  lash, 
and  cross  tore  the  famished  survivors  from  the  ruins  of  their 
country's  pride  ;  when  the  stern  edict  of  an  exasperated  tyrant 
scattered  priest,  and  Levite,  and  people  over  the  whole  globe, 
divorcing  them  by  the  might  of  irresistible  force  from  the  duty  of 
an  impossible  obedience  to  an  extinct  law  administrable  only  by 
a  priesthood  that  had  perished. 

Once  born,  the  Church  grew  with  amazing  rapidity.  It  has 
often  happened  to  new  religions  to  spread  far  and  wide  in  a  sur- 
prisingly short  space  of  time :  that  founded  by  Gautama  Buddha 
did  this,  and  so  did  that  one  which  was  dandled  upon  the  knees 
of  the  licentious  prophet  of  Mecca.  To  account  for  such  phe- 
nomena natural  causes  can  alone  be  called  in  by  those  who  dis- 
believe in  the  doctrines  advocated ;  nor  need  we  hesitate  to  say 
that  the  case  of  Mohammedanism,  for  example,  is  adequately 
explained  by  these.     A  religion  which  promises  unlimited  sensual 


CONTINUITY  AND  RISE  OF  TEE  CHURCH.  45 

indulgence  hereafter  at  the  easy  cost  of  not  very  onerous  outward 
observances,  and  carries  a  naked  sword  in  its  hand,  can  claim  with 
very  poor  grace  that  its  triumphs  could  only  have  been  achieved 
by  the  favor  of  Heaven.  Surely,  the  forbearance  of  Heaven  and 
the  aiding  hand  of  hell  are  more  likely  to  have  brought  about  the 
result !  Causes  for  the  rapid  progress  of  Christianity  more  credit- 
able to  humanity  than  these,  but  yet  just  as  far  from  being  super- 
human, have  been  discovered,  and  set  forth  with  remarkable 
power,  by  the  great  historian  of  the  Decadence,  the  wide  circu- 
lation of  whose  incomparable  work  necessitates  the  turning  of  our 
attention  to  the  question  involved. 

Christianity  certainly  was  favored  by  circumstances  of  no 
inconsiderable  moment,  such  as  the  opening  up  by  commerce  and 
the  military  arm  of  numberless  channels  of  communication,  the 
wide  diffusion  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  tongues,  the  culmination 
of  Roman  civilization,  the  central  position  of  Palestine,  universal 
peace,  and  the  mysterious  prevalence  of  a  general  sigliing  after  a 
deliverer;  and  likewise  by  the  nature  of  the  religion  itself,  which 
in  its  profound,  hopeful,  pure,  and  lofty  doctrine,  in  its  admirable 
organization,  and  in  the  unselfish,  noble  spirit  it  inculcated  and 
created,  met  the  higher  requirements  of  humanity,  and  forged  the 
weapons  of  success.  But  some  of  these  causes  which  are  supposed 
to  account  for  its  swift  advance  proceed  upon  a  forgetful  ness  that 
what  will  give  currency  to  a  religion  already  established  may 
rather  impede  than  assist  its  early  rise.  Shall  one  ignore  the 
patent  fact,  for  instance,  that  the  same  road  upon  which  mission- 
aries journeyed  afforded  equal  facilities  for  couriers  to  travel  with 
the  persecuting  edicts  of  the  emperors?  Then,  too,  the  whole 
argument  rests  upon  the  extraordinary  fallacy  that  the  human 
heart  generally  chooses  the  good  when  it  recognizes  it,  and  follows 
it  out  when  chosen  !  Who  is  there  that  can  credit  the  statement, 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  disposed  the  philo- 
sophic mind  fevorably  towards  the  new  creed,  if  he  recollects  the  ex- 
perience of  St.  Paul  on  Mars  Hill  ?  Or  who  can  agree  with  Gibbon 
when  he  speaks  of  the  high  tone  of  morality  in  the  early  Church  as 
rendering  the  faith  attractive,  that  has  not  blinded  himself  to  that 
strange  weakness  and  perversity  of  our  race  which  makes  us  cling  to 
the  evil  even  while  we  see  and  approve  and  love  the  opposite  ? 
The  honest  philosopher  will  rather  admit  that  the  foes  which 
confronted  the  Church  of  the  Apostles  were  simply  gigantic. 


46  TEE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

No  more  bitter  adversaries  assailed  the  first  missionaries  than 
their  own  brethren  according  to  the  flesh.  So  thoroughly  had  the 
teachings  of  the  rabbis  warped  and  distorted  Judaism  that  it 
seemed  to  have  faced  about  entirely,  and  to  have  forgotten  the 
very  purpose  for  which  it  was  called  into  the  field,  or  rather  to 
have  marshaled  itself  in  deadly  hostility  to  that  design.  True, 
God's  will  was  not  thwarted,  for  Judaism  had  really  been  the 
means  of  preparing  for  the  reception  of  the  Gospel  the  hearts  of 
the  faithful  few ;  but  for  the  vast  majority,  that  which  should 
have  been  to  them  for  their  best  advantage  and  liighest  gain 
became  unto  them  an  occasion  of  tailing  into  endless  ruin.  The 
strongest  sentiments  of  the  average  Jew  had  become  a  boundless 
pride  in  his  own  ancestry,  coupled  with  an  intense  contempt  for 
all  who  were  not  children  of  Abraham,  and  an  eager  longing  for 
the  resuscitation  and  expected  augmentation  of  the  faded  glories 
of  David's  kingdom  ;  and  we  are  to  be  told  that  the  Jewish  nation, 
after  cherishing  such  sentiments  for  a  thousand  years,  after  hug- 
ging such  fond  delusions  during  a  long  exile  and  continuous 
period  of  oppression  and  the  heroic  struggles  of  the  Maccabean 
era,  was  likely  to  close  eagerly  with  the  oilers  of  a  prophet  who 
had  come  to  throw  open  the  gates  of  the  inner  court  to  those 
who  were  despised  as  Gentiles  or  J^a?'larians  and  to  destroy  for- 
ever the  hope  of  a  conquering  monarch !  The  new  doctrines 
were  utterly  abhorrent  to  the  carnal  mind  of  Pharisee,  and 
Sadducee,  and  Ilerodian  alike,  so  that  one  and  all  they  forgot  their 
various  disputes  in  order  to  unite  in  deadly  league  against  the 
hated  Nazarenes.  As  they  treated,  in  their  wanton  cruelty,  the 
Master,  so  dealt  they  with  the  disciples.  Having  crucified  Him, 
they  stoned,  beat,  dragged  on  the  pavement,  crucified  these. 
Greedily  snatching  at  the  faintest  gleam  of  hope  ofiered  by  an 
obscure  Gaulonite,  they  slew  the  true  Jesus  and  hunted  down  His 
servants  with  the  mad  zeal  of  the  unconverted  Saul,  improving 
against  them  every  opportunity  of  false  accusation  or  seditious 
gathering  when  unable  to  use  open  violence,  and  dogging  their 
steps  from  city  to  city.  At  other  times,  changing  their  tactics, 
they  even  feigned  themselves  to  be  Christians  in  order  to  sow 
disturbance  in  their  counsels.  This  was  the  way  in  which  Judaism 
took  her  younger  sister  by  the  hand  and  assisted  her  tottering  steps. 

But  if  thus  thoroughly  did  the  disguise  of  a  carpenter's  garb 
hide  the  purple  robes  beneath  from  Hebrew  eye,  not  less  effectu- 


CONTINUITY  AND  RISE  OF  THE  CHUBCH.  47 

ally  did  the  dark  shadow  of  the  ignominious  cross  conceal  the 
royal  diadem  that  encircled  the  meek  brow  of  the  despised  Naza- 
rene  from  him  whose  demi-gods  achieved  their  apotheosis  by 
dazzling  exhibitions  of  superhuman  prowess.  If  the  inversion  of 
all  their  expectations  smote  with  leaden  weight  upon  the  heart  of 
the  Jew,  becoming  a  stumbling-block  in  his  path ;  not  loss  was 
the  idea  of  a  "Crucified  God"  calculated  to  draw  down  the 
ridicule  of  the  polished,  self-satisfied,  sneering  Greek,  or  the 
haughty  and  luxurious  Roman.  The  opposition  of  the  Gentile 
world  may  have  l)een  several  shades  less  virulent,  but  it  could 
hardly  be  called  less  determined.  And  it  was  the  very  exclusive- 
ness,  which  the  historian  ranks  among  the  causes  favoring  the  rise 
of  Christianity,  that  fanned  the  hatred  into  its  deadliest  glow. 
Was  the  Queen  City  to  suifer  dictation  ?  Was  she  obediently  to 
empty  her  Pantheon,  driving  her  gods  from  their  ancient  abode? 
Without  much  reluctance  she  might  have  added  a  niche  or  two 
that  would  hardly  have  been  noticed  among  the  many ;  but  when 
bidden  to  cast  earthward  the  occupants  of  all,  and  enthrone  in 
their  stead  a  Deity  that  absolutely  prohibited  the  making  an 
image  of  Him,  she  listened  a  moment  stupefied  with  amazement, 
and  then  uttered  one  prolonged  yell  of  defiance  and  wrath  that 
shook  the  arches  of  heaven  until  Constantino's  Labarum  led  the 
victorious  legions.  Polytheism  did  not  quietly  lay  itself  down 
and  peacefully  expire  as  soon  as  a  purer  religion  stepped  upon 
the  stage,  but  summoning  to  its  side  the  embattled  hosts  of  hell, 
it  fought  for  supremacy  with  the  desperation  of  the  hopeless,  and 
the  craft  and  malice  of  the  damned.  If  the  antiquated  mythology 
had  in  some  degree  lost  its  hold  upon  the  votaries  of  Zeus  and 
Jupiter,  these  votaries  were  not  thereby  turned  over  as  fields 
ploughed  and  harrowed,  ready  for  the  scattering  of  the  good  seed; 
but  rather,  like  exhausted  soil  fit  only  to  produce  briers  and  weeds, 
abandoned  to  the  occupancy  of  those  demons,  Indifierence  and 
Skepticism. 

Perverted  Judaism  and  rampant  paganism  were,  after  all,  but 
two  manifestations  or  incarnations  of  the  one  invisible  opponent, 
human  sinfulness,  which  must  now  be  arraigned  before  the  bar 
of  our  judgment.  Sin,  it  does  not  need  to  be  said,  was  the  great 
antagonist  of  the  truth,  and  fallen  humanity  is  wofully  sinful. 
Humanity  had  bestridden  vice,  and  careered  through  the  world 
for  centuries,  and  may  have  suffered  from  the  fatigue  incident  to 


48  THE  CHURCH  AXD  THE  FAITH. 

sucli  a  cLase ;  but  was  it  in  the  humor  to  leap  from  the  saddle 
and  buckle  on  the  breastplate  of  Christian  warfare  ?     Jaded,  dis- 
appointed, sick,  would  it  n.ot  rather  seek  the  couch  of  indolence, 
or  the  exliilaration  of  continued  motion,  content  tliat  it  be  down- 
ward, so  long  as  speed  and  ease  were  assured  ?     Ancient  philoso- 
phy, or  modern,  never  made  a  greater  mistake  than  in  imagining 
that  knowledge  is  the  one  all-sulScient  remedy  against  sin.     If 
the  great  sages  of  Athens  erred  conspicuously,  it  was  in  advocating 
this  superficial  notion.     To  the  believer,  at  least,  such  a  notion  is 
utterly  untenable.     To  say  that  man  at  first  sinned  through  ig- 
norance, is  to  lay  down  the  whole  responsibility  of  the  fall  at  the 
doors  of  Heaven.     lie  yielded  to  temj^tation,  not  because  he  did 
not  know  that  he  was  being  enticed  to  wrong-doing,  but  from 
lack  of  determination  to  resist  the  strong  craving  he  permitted  to 
arise  in  his  soul.     If,  in  his  innocence,  man  admitted  vice  into  his 
bosom,  it  is  hardly  possible  that  pure  disgust  at  the  conduct,  and 
impatience  of  the  influence,  of  the  guest  should  result  in  the  ex- 
pulsion of  that  insidious  tenant.     Let  a  thoughtful  person  survey 
carefully  the  Rome  of  Augustus,  and  then  declare  to  us  where  in 
that  slough  of  all  abominations  he  discovers  the  promise  and  po- 
tency of  reform.     Had  St.  Paul  gone  to  the  Rome  that  trembled 
at  the  advance  of  the  Punic  champion  and  yet  publicly  thanked 
the  general  that  did  not  despair  after  the  field  of  Cannjp,  such  a 
scrutiny  might  be  conducted  with  some  hopefulness;  but  now, 
after  two  centuries  and  a  half  had  elapsed  from  that  heroic  epoch — 
centuries  of  almost  uninterrupted  decline ;  now  that  valor,  and 
discipline,  and   integrity,  and  frugality,  and  manliness  had  for- 
saken degenerate  Rome,  wrapped  in  a  gorgeous  mantle  that  only 
served  for  a  time  to  withdraw  attention  from  the  mummy  within, 
what  possibility  is  there  that  the  shorn  Samson  will  arise  and  shake 
himself  with   any  valuable   result?     In   bigoted  Pharisaism,  in 
Asiatic  softness,  in  Roman  effeminacy,  and  in  Grecian  ])ride  of 
intellect,  Christianity  encountered  the  worst  forms  of  wickedness ; 
tyrants  which  held  their  slaves  in  such  abject  bondage  that  very 
few  indeed  could  hope  to  escape  by  their  own  exertions  the  hideous 
progeny  of  Sin  and  Satan,  whose  devilish  strength  would   cer- 
tainly have  overmastered  any  religion  that  did  not  come  against 
them  armed  with  superhuman  strength  infused  by  the  One  who 
commissioned  it  to  go  forth  and  subdue  the  world. 

And  now  let  it  not  be  thought  that  we  have  laboriously  de- 


CONTINUITY  AND  RISE  OF  THE  CnUBCR.  49 

monstrated  that  the  new  religion  could  not  succeed.  We  have  in- 
deed striven  to  show  that  it  could  not  have  prospered  as  it  did,  had 
it  depended  upon  natural  causes  alone.  Beautiful  and  complete 
as  its  doctrinal  system  is  when  once  accepted  as  true,  it  has  cer- 
tain features  indicative  of  supernatural  strength  and  derivation 
which  prevent  its  ready  acceptance.  The  grandeur  of  the  Incar- 
nation, the  unutterable  love  displayed  in  the  Atonement,  and  the 
marvelous  exhibition  of  power  in  the  Resurrection  move  so  high 
above  the  level  of  ordinary  thought  that  the  natural  mind  falls 
back  stunned  and  incredulous  from  the  attempt  to  believe  them 
true.  Far  removed  as  are  these  facts  from  common  experience, 
so  far  above  the  commonplace  must  be  the  means  by  which  they 
are  proved.  To  the  Israelites  Christ  came  fulfilling  the  minute 
predictions  uttered  by  their  prophets  hundreds  of  years  l)efore. 
This  mode  of  convincing  the  children  of  the  Law^,  He  Himself 
stamped  with  the  mark  of  special  approval  by  Ilis  method  of  in- 
sti-ucting  the  two  disciples  on  the  road  to  Emmaus.  To  Jew  and 
Gentile,  indiiferently.  He  gave  the  persuasive  evidence  of  mira- 
cles, communicating  the  power  of  working  these  signs  and  won- 
ders to  His  followers.  The  divine  perfection  of  His  own  charac- 
ter and  the  superior  virtue  of  His  disciples  afforded  additional 
testimony  to  the  verity  of  His  teaching.  But  above  all,  the  active 
cooperation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  with  the  evangelist  in  his  eiforts 
to  convince  and  persuade  was  indispensable  in  breaking  down  the 
barriers  of  sin,  and  melting  the  hardened  heart,  and  convincing 
the  prejudiced  understanding.  Not  prophecy,  nor  miracle,  nor 
manifest  holiness,  nor  persuasive  preaching  was  able  to  produce 
any  deep  and  permanent  impression  upon  hearer  or  spectator, 
unless  the  Almighty  Spirit  went  forth  over  the  assembly  in  per- 
vading influence  and  prevailing  power,  not  destroying  man's  free- 
dom of  mental  operation,  it  is  true,  but  modifying  it  as  a  very  lovely 
song  modifies  the  play  of  emotion,  or  as  profifered  skill  alleviates 
the  diseased  action  of  the  physical  system.  Tes,  let  the  doctrine 
be  the  product,  not  of  the  best  human  wisdom,  but  of  the  divine 
mind  itself,  and  ever  so  well  adapted  to  meet  the  desires  of  the 
spiritual  nature,  yet  could  it  never  have  stricken  its  roots  into 
the  subsoil  of  this  planet,  though  propped  by  whatsoever  strength 
of  testimony,  had  not  the  heavenly  Dove  itself  brooded  constantly 
over  the  fragments  of  a  ruined  world,  bringing  order  out  of  chaos, 
and  fertility  out  of  utmost  barrenness. 


50  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

Nevertheless  the  Paraclete  works  largely  through  human 
agenci/y  aud  employs  natwal  causes,  so  that  when  once  we  have 
duly  ascribed  to  God  the  honor  that  belongs  to  Him,  and  pro- 
tested with  becoming  vehemence  against  the  rationalizing  process 
that  robs  Him  of  it,  we  may  embark  courageously  upon  an  in- 
quiry which  is  not  without  its  importance,  Why  did  the  Church 
grow  so  much  more  rapidly  in  its  infancy  than  it  has  ever  done 
since  ?  Can  it  be  that  it  soon  attained  its  prescribed  dimensions, 
and  then  became  stationary  in  size  as  the  full-grown  man  is  ? 
Not  so,  for  the  Church  was  given  a  clear  and  comprehensive  title 
to  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  earth. 

Undoubtedly,  a  remarkably  rapid  immediate  expansion  was 
provided  for  by  the  Master  Himself;  and  this  in  two  ways  that 
command  our  attention.  First,  the  Lord  effected  this  by  supply- 
ing the  Church  with  a  devoted  band  of  missionaries  trained  under 
His  own  eye,  and  endowed  with  an  adequate  measnre  of  divine 
grace  for  the  special  emergency ;  and  secondly,  by  arming  these 
early  preachers  with  extraordinary  control  over  forces,  laws,  and 
even  persons,  both  of  the  natural  and  of  the  supernatural  universe. 
Still  the  rate  of  the  Church's  progression  subsequent  to  this  era  was 
Buch  as  to  have  been  unexampled  since,  except  in  a  few  cases  sepa- 
rated by  long  intervals.  Curiosity  and  the  love  of  useful  knowledge 
both  urge  an  examination  of  the  causes  of  this  quick  expansion. 

Of  the  three  marked  features  of  the  infant  society  which  most 
powerfully  conduced  to  this  fortunate  result,  the  first  that  we  shall 
notice  will  be  its  admirahle  organization ;  which  at  once,  by  its 
democratic  character,  called  into  play  the  best  energies  of  all  its 
members,  lay  as  well  as  clerical,  and  by  the  autocratic  power  of 
the  episcopate  directed  these  awakened  energies  surely,  unosten- 
tatiously, and  promptly  into  the  proper  channels.  Defective 
execution  is  said  to  be  the  characteristic  vice  of  democracies ;  these 
consequently  often  resort  to  the  expedient  of  appointing  a  tem- 
porary dictator  in  order  to  insure  the  concentration  and  vigor  which 
are  necessary  in  the  conduct  of  a  campaign.  The  cause  of  the 
Gospel  must  have  equally  suffered  from  diffusion  of  authority  had 
the  pristine  organization  really  been  the  democracy  some  would 
make  it;  and  the  reason  it  did  not  languish  and  die  was  that 
every  missionary  enterprise  had  a  single  head  to  manage  its 
affairs.  In  the  dispute  of  Paul  and  Barnabas  we  see  that  even 
two  controlling  wills  were  not  as  good  as  one  so  soon  as  the  band 


CONTINUITY  AND  RISE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  51 

numbered  more  than  two  persons.  The  mother  Church  accord- 
ino^ly  was  soon  put  under  the  rule  of  James,  while  the  Apostles 
generally  Avent  out  singly,  founding  churches  here  and  there,  and 
establishing  each  after  the  invariable  pattern  which  we  behold  at 
Ephesus,  with  Timothy  at  its  helm  and  the  requisite  number  of 
presbyters  and  deacons  under  him.  Thus  unity  of  design  per- 
vaded all  the  efforts  of  any  given  church.  The  bishop,  consulting 
wdtli  his  college  of  presbyters,  decided  what  line  of  action  should 
be  adopted,  and  then  himself  directed  how  that  should  be  carried 
out,  appointing  to  each  subordinate  his  own  station  and  charge 
in  garrison  and  field.  Thus  by  concerted  action  was  individual 
energy  made  to  tell  most  eifectively  upon  the  foe,  who,  instead  of 
being  able  to  practice  the  tactics  of  the  surviving  Iloratius,  was 
compelled  to  face  a  compact  and  disciplined  enemy. 

Again,  in  those  happy  days,  all  who  "  ran  "  were  "  sent"  by  the 
same  authority,  so  that  when  one  "company  of  preachers"  had 
made  some  progress  in  converting  unbelievers,  another  did  not 
come  upon  the  scene,  thinking  it  their  bounden  duty  to  overturn 
all  that  had  been  accomplished  and  establish  a  new  sect  if  not 
another  Christianity,  and  thus  thoroughly  confusing  the  neophytes, 
and  drawing  from  them  the  uncomplimentai'y  exclamation,  Be- 
hold how  these  Christians  abhor  one  another!  Evidently  such 
conduct  on  the  part  of  missionaries  may  not  only  be  laudable  but 
absolutely  necessary ;  since  that  heresy  and  schism  already  occupy 
the  ground,  is  sometimes  all  the  stronger  reason  that  truth  and 
unity  should  forthwith  assert  their  claim  to  universal  allegiance, 
inasmuch  as  error  may  be  more  fatal  than  ignorance  ;  and  when 
the  duty  has  been  put  upon  the  Church  of  preaching  the  glad 
tidings  everywhere,  she  may  not  shrink  from  its  performance  on 
the  plea  that  others  have  done  the  work  imperfectly  and  mis- 
takenly. Still  such  hostile  presentations  of  the  Gospel  of  peace 
and  love  must  have  an  injurious  effect  upon  those  to  whom  they 
are  made,  and  strongly  tend  to  render  them  callous  to  the  moving 
appeals  of  the  religion  of  the  Crucified.  They  may  be  either  so 
contradictory  as  manifestly  to  be  mutually  destructive,  or  so 
similar  that  nice  discrimination  tasks  itself  to  distinguish  between 
them :  in  the  first  case  the  untutored  intellect,  not  skilled  in  the 
combats  of  the  schools,  will  refuse  to  believe  in  the  divine  descent 
of  a  religion  that  leaves  its  votaries  so  deep  in  the  fog  that  they 
hold  mutually  destructive  views  of  its  most  important  doctrines 


52  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

and  mysteries  ;  and  in  the  latter,  the  savage  heart  will  fail  to  be 
impressed  with  the  loveliness  of  a  rule  of  life  which  seemingly 
permits  its  subjects  to  retard  the  great  work  of  regenerating  the 
world,  by  spending  their  time  and  exhausting  their  energies  in 
wretched  quaiTels  about  minor  differences.  The  pernicious  influ- 
ence of  such  bickerings  as  are  common  among  rival  denominations, 
is  sure  to  be  even  greater  upon  those  souls  which  are  already  com- 
mitted by  the  memories  of  a  lifetime  to  the  course  of  persistent 
rejection,  well  furnished  with  arguments  against  the  Church's  faith 
and  order,  and  animated  by  the  deadly  hatred  of  the  truth  which 
the  father  of  lies  especially  infuses  into  those  who,  having 
enshrined  much  truth  in  a  larger  amount  of  falsehood,  call  the 
whole  by  the  name  of  the  stnaller  portion.  Savage  and  civilized 
alike,  unchristianized  mankind  bars  the  portals  of  its  heart  against 
the  entrance  of  contending  emissaries,  very  properly  waiting  for 
some  certification  that,  once  admitted,  they  will  not  continue  the 
unappeasable  strife,  carrying  havoc  M'here  they  sliould  sow 
brotherly  kindness  and  charity.  Much  as  the  early  herald  of  the 
Cross  had  to  contend  against,  he  had  not  to  dread  an  attack  in  the 
rear.  Ilis  foes  were  all  in  front.  He  might  be  starved,  plundered, 
beaten,  imprisoned,  burned,  torn  to  pieces,  crucified,  but  not 
stabbed  in  the  back  by  his  own  brethren.  The  missionary  enter- 
prises of  the  Church,  till  Arius  set  up  his  seditious  standard,  were 
backed  by  the  whole  moral  force  of  the  Lord's  army,  and  conse- 
quently flourished  and  grew  like  the  mustard-seed  of  the  parable. 
Lastly,  the  fold  of  Christ  in  apostolic,  and  in  all  ante-Nicene, 
times  was  girt  with  a  wall  of  Arc,  through  which  all  must  dart 
who  Avould  seek  refui^e  within.  Lit  bv  its  enemies,  this  barrier 
served  as  a  most  effectual  protection  to  the  Church  against  the 
inroads  of  such  as  would  have  proved  themselves  false  friends 
and  ready  betrayers.  In  all  periods  she  has  had  no  worse  foes 
than  her  own  disloyal  children — disloyal  because  all  sin  is  rebellion 
against  God  and  His  Only-begotten  Son.  Men  do  not  judge  a 
fi'uit-tree  by  its  size,  shape,  bark,  or  leaves,  but  by  its  fruit ;  so, 
rightly  or  wrongly,  they  decide  upon  the  merits  of  a  Church,  not 
so  much  by  the  number  upon  its  rolls,  by  the  character  of  its 
doctrine,  by  its  form  of  worship,  or  purencss  of  descent,  as  by  the 
success  it  seems  to  have  in  moldins:  the  lives  of  its  adherents  into 
uprightness  and  piety.  A  wicked  member  can  do  more  positive 
injury  to  a  Church  than  a  hundred  assailants.     In  freedom  from 


CONTINUITY  AND  RISE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  53 

the  pollution,  reproach,  and  harm  brought  upon  an  organization 
by  unruly  members,  the  primitive  Church  was  peculiarly  happy  : 
for  this  she  has  to  thank  the  brutality  of  Xero,  the  policy  of 
Trajan,  the  honest  abhorrence  of  Decius,  the  criminal  weakness 
of  Diocletian ;  or  rather  the  God  who  makes  all  things  conspire 
in  advancing  the  welfare  of  those  who  love  Him,  and  converts 
the  weapon  of  the  persecutor  into  a  shield  for  the  persecuted. 
Great  sinners  unquestionably  harassed  a  communion  into  which 
they  had  intruded,  or  from  which  their  backslidings  should  have 
constituted  them  self-expelled, as  far  back  as  Judas;  but  they  do  not 
seem  to  have  disturbed  it  in  any  great  numbers,  and  were 
promptly  subjected  to  discipline,  so  that  the  body  might  be  de- 
livered from  scandal.  Bad  as  mav  have  been  that  Corinthian 
Church,  which  was  so  severely  rebuked  by  its  Apostle,  its  average 
morality  must  have  been  immeasurably  above  that  of  the  sur- 
rounding heathen  population  wholly  surrendered,  as  that  was, 
to  lasciviousness  and  universal  excess.  If  it  lacked  something  of 
the  perfection  evolved  by  eighteen  centuries  of  continuous  Chris- 
tian civilization.  Porphyry  or  Julian  could  hardly  cast  up  against 
the  despised  sect  a  deficiency  measurable  only  by  a  standard  of 
which  they  did  not  dream.  The  Gospel  net  inclosed  good  and 
bad  then  as  well  as  now,  but  the  opposers  lashed  the  surface  with 
such  fierceness  that  most  of  the  latter  were  frightened  away  and 
driven  beyond  soundings.  "Wlieat  and  tares  in  those  days  were 
seen  growing  side  by  side,  but  greater  care  than  now  was  taken 
to  eradicate  the  latter  as  far  as  prudence  allowed.  Discipline 
was  administered  with  a  fearlessness  that  knew  no  restraint  but 
that  of  anxiety  to  reclaim  the  erring.  Trusting  her  cause  to  God, 
and  careful  for  nothing  save  to  retain  Plis  favor,  the  struggling 
Church  of  the  first  three  centuries  scourged  her  sons,  when  she 
thought  they  needed  it,  with  merciful,  but  impartial  and  unspar- 
ing hand.  Instead  of  indolently  and  faithlessly  suffering  them 
to  run  on  from  bad  to  worse,  imperiling  their  own  hopes  of  salva- 
tion, and  bringing  endless  disgrace  upon  their  negligent  parent ; 
or  only  checking  them  with  the  voice  of  admonition,  so  little 
likely  to  be  heeded  by  those  who  most  need  it,  she  put  herself  to 
the  trouble  of  inflicting  upon  the  disobedient  such  punishments  as 
were  within  her  power,  publicly  rebuking,  suspending,  excom- 
municating them.  This  course  often  resulted  in  the  reform  of 
the  transgressors,  always  redounded  to  the  edification  of  the  rest 


54  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

of  the  congregation,  and  washed  in  a  great  measure  from  the 
skirts  of  the  Church  what  stains  she  had  incurred  from  their  con- 
taminating presence.  Thus,  environed  with  the  barrier  of  perse- 
cuting hatred,  and  sedulously  fulfilling  the  part  of  a  tender 
mother,  the  youthful  Church  smiled  upon  the  world  that  sought 
to  slay  her,  pure,  calm,  triumphant. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

MANICH^ISM. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  anything  said  in  the  last  chapter 
that  no  counterfeit  of  the  truth  obtained  currency  before  the  arch- 
heretic  of  Alexandria  dared  to  blaspheme  the  Son  of  God  ;  yet 
what  might  pass  for  counterfeit  coin  was  rather  a  professed  imi- 
tation than  a  deliberate  imposture.  As  might  have  been  antici- 
pated, the  earliest  departures  from  the  truth  were  in  the  line  of 
Mosaisui,  being  attempts  to  engraft  the  new  upon  the  old.  Hence 
arose  the  effort,  so  repugnant  to  St.  Paul,  of  bowing  the  necks  of 
Gentile  converts  to  bear  the  iron  yoke  from  which  the  galled 
shoulders  of  the  Hebrew  were  soon  to  be  delivered.  At  about 
the  same  time  originated  the  Ebionites,  holding  the  low  material- 
istic view  of  the  Incarnation  which  confessed  in  Jesus  no  more 
than  a  mere  man ;  and  its  complementary  falsehood  which  was 
embodied  by  the  Docetae  in  the  spiritualistic  notion  that  Christ 
had  no  physical  existence,  but  only  seemed  to  be  flesh  and  blood. 
These  and  other  heresies  of  that  period  left  little  lasting  impress 
upon  the  Church  or  the  world,  and  may  be  remanded  by  us  into 
oblivion. 

More  deserving  of  our  attention  by  far  were  certain  schools  of 
speculative  religion  that  early  flourished  outside  the  Church, 
without  even  pretending  to  belong  to  it;  and  therefore  were 
heresies  in  scarcely  any  truer  sense  than  the  Buddhist  or  the 
Mussulman  could  be  called  a  heretic.  In  the  Asia  of  the  ante- 
Nicene  epoch  three  distinct  classes  of  religious  philosophy  pre- 
vailed and  disputed  with  Christianity  the  homage  of  man's  mind. 
First,  there  was  the  ancient  faith  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  sadly 
corrupted  by  unauthorized  glosses ;  then,  there  were  added  the 
dreamy  speculations  of  the  Oriental  imagination  concerning  the 
Supreme  Being,  the  origin  of  things,  and  other  unsearchable 
mysteries ;  and  lastly,  there  entered  the  arena  Neo-Platonism,  a 


56  TEE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

strange  conglomerate  itself  of  the  various  philosophies  of  Greece 
and  perhaps  half  a  dozen  other  beliefs,  as  they  had  been  melted 
down  and  run  together  by  the  heat  of  violent  contact.  Acting 
seemingly  as  a  most  powerful  solvent,  Christianity  reduced  all 
these  to  their  constituent  elements,  and  without  intendini;  such  a 
result,  adding  a  few  parts  from  her  own  substance,  gave  the  world  a 
new  mineral,  which  she  herself  found  it  afterwards  very  difficult  to 
decompose  with  any  re-agents  she  could  ap])ly.  Thus  was  born 
Gnosticimn^  a  most  ungainly  oifspring,  itself  the  fertile  parent  of 
numerous  sects.  Gnosticism  exercises  unbounded  liberty  in 
stocking  its  Pleroma  Nvith  superhuman  beings,  which  it  causes  to 
emanate  from  a  dualistic  source,  and  dubs  ^ons.  This  system, 
or  rather  this  congeries  of  systems,  it  was  which  gave  so  much 
annoyance  to  the  youthful  Church,  and  drew  the  fire  of  such  men 
as  Irena^us,  Ilippolytus,  and  Tertullian,  who  held  up  its  ridicu- 
lous tenets  to  the  contempt  of  their  own  and  all  succeeding  ages. 
These  sects  seem  to  have  been  destitute  of  vitality.  After  making 
considerable  noise  for  a  time,  they  gradually  disappear,  and  then 
reviving  a  few  times,  as  in  Spain  under  the  name  of  Priscillianists 
during  the  fomth  century,  die  down  again  and  are  heard  of  no 
more. 

Moi-e  potent  and  lasting  was  a  sect  that  arose  in  the  third 
century  at  the  court  of  Sapor,  the  Persian  monarch.  Having 
lately  escaped  from  the  rather  galling  domination  of  Parthia, 
Persia  had  become  the  scene  of  much  revolutionary  movement. 
An  earnest  attempt  was  made,  with  partial  success,  to  revive  the 
ancient  religion  of  the  Ach»menian  court.  A  religion  was 
made  the  established  creed  of  the  Sassanian  Empire  which  was 
intended  to  be  the  same  that  had  flourished  under  the  former 
dynasty  five  centuries  before  ;  but  into  it  had  really  entered  many 
an  extraneous  element  borrowed  from  alien  faiths.  Indeed,  it  is 
hard  to  give  any  specific  title  to  the  resulting  compound.  Zoroas- 
trianism  it  was  not,  for  that,  originally  at  least,  was  monotheistic, 
and  this  was  dualistic ;  Magian,  strictly  speaking,  it  was  not  either, 
for  that  was  almost  purely  a  worship  of  the  elements,  and  this  had 
adopted  Ahura-mazda  and  Angro-mainyus,  and  revered  those  two 
antagonistic  deities  besides  adorning  the  mountain  heights  with 
picturesque  altars  to  the  "  Lord  of  Day."  The  reviver  of  this 
Mithraic  cult  was  Artaxerxes,  the  restorer  of  the  empire ;  and  to 
him  is  due  the  celebrated  sacred  volume  of  the  Zendavesta.     His 


MAmCH^ISM.  57 

son  and  successor,  Sapor  I.,  was  likewise  an  enthusiastic  Zoroastrian. 
But, though  thus  given  a  decided  predominance,  the  fdth  of  the 
Magians  had  not  driv-en  its  rivals  from  the  field.  Judaism  itself 
seemed  to  enter  upon  a  new  life  in  the  Talmudic  schools  of  Baby- 
lon ;  Buddhism  was  known  outside  of  India ;  Grecian  polytheism 
had  not  been  forgotten  ;  Christianity  had  made  its  converts  ;  and 
many  an  other  system  or  half-system  of  religious  belief  challenged 
the  attentive  study  of  earnest  souls.  About  the  year  270  a.  d.  a 
certain  Manes,  of  a  naturally  eclectic  mind  we  may  well  suppose, 
having  by  fusion  of  these  evolved  a  new  doctrine  which  was  more 
satisfactory  than  any  of  them  to  his  judgment  or  his  pride, 
broached  his  invention  to  the  monarch,  and  won  his  favorable 
attention  for  a  time,  but  was  soon  compelled  to  flee.  He  returned 
under  Hormisdas,  and  was  put  to  death  under  Yarahran,  thus 
completing  his  public  career  as  the  founder  of  Manichseism  in  less 
than  five  years ;  a  short  course  to  run,  but  long  enough  to  give  the 
initial  impulse  to  his  strange  system  of  half-Christianized  Zoroas- 
trianism,  an  Eclecticism  having  Dualism  for  its  basis  with  Chris- 
tianity patched  on  as  an  after-thought.  The  sect  which  took  his 
name  presently  united  its  forces  with  those  of  the  Marcionites, 
Basilidians,  Yalentinians,  and  other  Gnostic  tribes  in  a  sort  of 
partisan  warfare  against  Christianity.  Its  stronghold  continued  to 
be  in  the  East,  where  it  spread  over  Persia,  Armenia,  and  other 
countries,  till  it  gathered  head  enough  to  excite  the  animosity  of 
the  Empress  Theodora,  who  thi-eatened  it  with  extermination. 
Eebounding,  however,  from  this  depression,  it  either  crossed  the 
Black  Sea  or  followed  the  curve  of  its  shores,  and  obtained  secure 
footing  in  Bulgaria,  being  now  known  as  PauUcimiism.  Thence, 
reinforced  by  various  colonies  transplanted  by  imperial  power 
from  Syria  and  elsewhere  into  Thrace  and  the  regions  adjacent,  it 
penetrated  into  Italy,  and  then  into  Germany,  Spain,  France,  and 
all  corners  of  Europe,  concealing  its  pernicious  doctrines  under 
various  names,  of  which  Albhjenses  is  said  to  have  been  one,  and 
continuing  to  vex  the  Church  pei'haps  down  to  our  own  day. 

Both  Gnosticism  and  Manichseism  were  rooted  in  the  belief  of 
two  equal  and  antagonistic  Beings  dividing  between  them  the  sway 
of  the  universe,  but  waging  deadly  warfare  for  the  possession  of 
the  whole  ;  a  belief  very  natural  to  a  mind  freed  by  the  indolence 
of  an  Eastern  life  for  unstinted  indulgence  of  its  activity,  undis- 
turbed by  the  necessity  of  toiling  for  the  means  of  subsistence ; 


58  THE  CHURCH  AXD   THE  FAITH. 

but,  by  consequence  of  this  very  leisure  and  of  an  enervating  cli- 
mate, indisposed  and  unfitted  for  the  disagreeable  and  arduous 
task  of  restraining  the  imagination  and  calling  into  play  the  less 
active,  but  nobler,  powers  of  the  understanding.  Reposing  be- 
neath the  luxuriant  foliage  of  his  native  land,  the  meditative 
Oriental  watched  the  gradual  unfurling  of  those  cautionary  signals 
by  which  nature  gives  warning  of  the  approaching  storm,  and 
wondered  why  black  clouds  were  permitted  to  blot  out  the  fair 
beauty  of  the  radiant  heavens,  fierce  winds  to  carry  dismay  and 
havoc  in  their  train,  needless  torrents  of  rain  to  inundate  the 
blooming  fields,  to  sweep  away  the  labor  of  the  husbandman  and 
the  artisan,  and  to  furrow  the  face  of  the  earth  with  many  an  ugly 
seam.  Drifting  upon  the  current  of  thought,  he  further  asked 
himself  why  destruction  seems  to  be  the  condition  of  all  animate 
existence,  every  species  only  resisting  the  exterminating  wrath 
of  others  by  an  incessant  straggle,  in  which  it  inflicts  in  its 
turn  misery  and  death  upon  its  neighbors  ;  why  man's  frame  is  so 
often  racked  by  pain  and  enfeebled  by  disease,  and  his  happiness 
blighted  by  grief,  diappointment,  and  malicious  opposition ;  and 
why  the  serene  face  of  the  spirit  within  man,  bright  and  pure  as 
it  smiles  from  the  nursing  arms  upon  a  troubled  world,  so  often 
changes  into  the  hideous  visage  of  an  unclean  demon  before  it 
returns  whence  it  came.  To  all  this,  the  true  answer  is  found, 
not  by  him  who  dreams  away  existence  by  the  bank  of  flowing 
stream  or  in  the  learned  seclusion  of  the  study,  but  by  him  who, 
manfully  grasping  his  weapon,  goes  forth  to  bear  his  part  in  the 
strife,  and,  as  nmscles  harden,  nerves  grow  firm,  eye  becomes 
quicker  to  detect,  and  heart  dilates  with  that  joy  of  conflict 
which  quenches  all  sense  of  weariness,  discomfort,  and  fear,  learns 
the  incomparable  sweetness  of  that  fruit  which  none  can  relish 
save  the  true  soldier  of  the  cross.  To  the  lassitude  of  inaction  all 
exertion  is  miseiy:  to  those  infected  with  it,  the  thought  that 
sufi'ering,  and  sin,  and  all  the  manifold  forms  of  Evil  are,  or  at 
least  may  be,  missionaries  of  God  is  repugnant,  impossible,  and 
so  they  are  driven  to  the  invention  of  a  coexistent  Principle  of 
Evil,  an  Ahriman  to  offset  their  Ormuzd.  To  them  the  material 
world  becomes  a  prison-house,  in  which  are  enchained  particles 
of  Light  rifled  from  its  sister-kingdom  by  the  empire  of  Darkness, 
and  forevermore  struorD-lino-  to  be  free  and  reascend ;  and  the  one 
great  aim  of  life,  to  assist  in  tliis  escape  by  subduing  the  flesh 


MANICH^ISM.  59 

through  abstinence  and  mortification.  Furthermore,  a  fatalism 
will  soon  be  developed  which  views  man  rather  as  the  plaything 
of  circumstances,  the  tool  of  destiny,  or  the  puppet  of  superior 
forces,  than  as  that  noblest  of  created  beings,  an  individual  whose 
own  hand  writes  his  history.  Wherever  the  influence  of  Dualism 
has  been  felt,  there  may  be  discovered  more  or  less  tendency 
towards  these  errors. 

The  obvious  result  of  those  kindred  religions,  Gnosticism  and 
Manichseism,  wherever  they  have  introduced  any  of  their  leaven 
into  Christianity,  is  to  remove  God  from  the  authorship  and  con- 
trol of  this  world ;  whereupon  it  becomes  His  servants'  duty  to 
withdraw  themselves  as  much  as  possible  from  intercourse  with 
it.     Here,  at  once,  is  discovered  the  germ  of  Monasticism,  for  if 
the  world  is  not  God's  world,  let  us  escape  its  temptations  by 
flight,  and  spend  our  lives  in  cnishing  the  stubborn  flesh.     Such 
was  the  shallow  reasoning  of  the  desert  saint,  who,  abandoning 
the  post  at  which  he  had  been  stationed  by  Providence,  leaving 
his  brethren  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  conflict,  and  selfishly  turning 
his  back  upon  millions  ready  to  perish,  devoted  his  life,  not  to  the 
task  of  elevating  his  whole  nature,  but  to  the  impossible  one  of 
destroying  one  part  of  his  three-fold  organism.     Monkery  was 
essentially  Manichjean,  having  for  its  root-idea  that  the  ground 
and  the  vegetable  world,  and  all  kinds  of  flesh,  and  all  things 
visible  and  tangible  were  created  by  the  Devil,  or  else  (which 
practically  comes  to  the  same  thing)  have  been  so  thoroughly 
vitiated  and  depraved  by  the  fiend   that  he  has  now  the  full 
ownership  and  control  ceded  to  him.     "Woe,  then,  to  priest  or 
bishop  who,  piously,  and  devotedly,  and  obediently  laboring  to 
save  souls,  fights  in  the  thick  of  the  melee.     Fool  that  he  is !  let 
him  leave  these  millions  to  the  claws  of  eternal  perdition,  and 
magnanimously  shut  himself  securely  within  a  cell  surrounded  by 
leagues  of  trackless  wilderness !     The  gatherings  of  the  mighty 
throng  for  the  purposes  of  praising  God  in  full  chorus,  and  of 
unitedly  petitioning  Him  to  grant  the  common  requirements, — 
these  have  no  place  in  a  system  which  must  regard  all  external 
worship  as  useless,  if  not  positively  hurtfid ;  though  it  does  leave 
its  deluded  disciples  to  the  bondage  of  lip  and  knee  service  in  the 
privacy  of  the  hermitage.     Strange  inconsistency !     As  for  the 
Sacraments,  they  are  not  only  liable  to  the  same  objection  on  the 
score  of  externality,  but  actually  involve  the  use  of  water  and  the 


GO  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

pampering  of  the  body  with  the  carnal  elements  of  bread  and 
wine.  Alas,  that  Manichseism  in  all  its  harrafulness  should  still 
be  rife  among  Christians!  It  is  centuries  now  since  monkery 
quailed  before  the  wrath  of  an  increasing  enlightenment,  but  these 
many  years  ha%'e  not  uprooted  the  principle  upon  which  it  rested. 
In  one  age  the  idea  peoples  deserts  and  forests  with  communities 
of  solitaries,  and  in  another  wraps  its  votaries  in  a  Pharisaical 
garb  which  requires  no  Nitrian  wilds  to  protect  them  from  the 
world,  throu2:h  which  thev  stalk  like  the  Ghost  of  Hamlet's  father 
while  they  frown  with  equal  sternness  upon  the  vices  of  the  prof- 
ligate and  the  innocent  amusements  of  vonth.  The  Puritanism 
which,  blotting  God's  sun  from  the  skies,  recognizes  no  sanctity 
but  in  the  unbending  austerity  of  the  misanthrope,  does  it  not 
teach  that  this  world  is  a  land  of  dreary  exile,  in  which  we  must 
not  cat,  drink,  or  sleep  for  fear  of  being  poisoned?  In  still 
another  age,  the  same  idea,  taking  advantage  of  a  state  of  society 
truly  lamentable,  instead  of  insisting  that  distilleries  and  saloons 
shall  not  sell  a  vile  compound  under  the  name  of  spirituous 
liquor,  instead  of  attempting  to  instill  into  the  popular  mind  the 
imprudence  of  running  at  a  continual  high  pressure,  and  the  ad- 
visability of  practicing  an  univei*sal  moderation;  instead  of  thus 
inaugurating  a  reform  based  upon  sound  principles,  commits  the 
marvelous  blunder  of  confounding  teinperance  with  total  absti- 
nencc,  and  calls  upon  all  mankind  to  abandon  the  production  of 
the  grape,  and  confine  itself  to  the  natural  beverage,  which  may 
be  delightful  enough  quaffed  from  the  bubbling  spring,  but  is 
most  unpalatable  and  noxious,  as  it  must  often  be  drunk,  if  drunk 
at  all.  In  all  these  manifestations,  it  is  not  difficult  to  recognize 
the  ever-recurring  notion  that  Matter  is  Evil,  not  to  the  man  who 
wrongly  uses  it,  or  who  does  not  submit  himself  to  the  control 
of  the  divine  Will,  but  essentially,  and  to  all. 

Contemporaneous  with  the  Bulgarians,  Bogomiles,  Cathari, 
Albigenses,  and  other  Paulician  sects  were  the  "  Brethren  of  the 
Free  Spirit,"'  who,  under  various  designations,  flourished  through- 
out Europe  in  the  thirteenth  and  the  following  centuries,  and 
whether  lineally  connected  with  the  Manichgeans  or  not,  held  a 
central  doctrine  which  was  the  natural  outcome  of  their  teachings. 
Although  the  creed  of  these  Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit  does  not 
primarily  concern  itself  with  maceration  of  the  flesh,  it  is  never- 
theless born   of  the  same    supreme    contempt  for  the  visible. 


MANIGEJSISM.  61 

Haughtily  spurning  the  idea  that  God  verbally  communicates 
with  man,  it  unblushingly  demands,  for  all  purposes  and  in  all 
cases,  nothing  less  than  a  direct  intercourse,  for  the  initiated  at 
least,  of  the  human  spirit  with  the  divine.  When  it  did  con- 
descend to  admit  the  advantage  the  recorded  revelation  contained 
in  the  Bible  might  be  to  the  unenlightened,  it  insisted  as  strenu- 
ously as  ever  that  those  who  had  once  received  within  them  the 
li^ht  of  the  divine  illumination,  needed  nothino;  to  cuide  them  but 
this  same  invisible  brightness.  In  thus  throwing  down  the  bar- 
riers which  the  same  God  who  created  the  spirit,  soul,  and  body 
of  man,  has  erected  to  protect  him  against  the  misguiding  influ- 
ences of  ignorance,  willfulness,  impulse,  and  fanaticism,  they 
surely  did  not  realize  that  they  had  cast  away  some  of  the  most 
important  restraints  from  vice ;  but  the  rest  of  the  world  soon 
sadly  beheld  these  jurists  i^ov  such  they  were  at  first)  change  into 
utter  libertines.  Though  the  "  Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit  "  have 
long  since  become  extinct,  many  a  Christian  person  at  this  very 
day  entertains  the  cardinal  error  of  their  school,  who  is  as  far  from 
intending  to  countenance  licentiousness  in  belief  or  practice  as  he 
well  could  be.  The  fashionable  neglect  of  ordinances,  subordina- 
tion of  Church  authority  to  private  judgment,  and  disregard  of 
ecclesiastical  censure  what  are  these  but  different  manifestations 
of  the  same  contempt  for  matter  as  being  the  creation  of  a  hostile 
power  ? 

As  that  anti-philosophic  sect  which  was  named  after  Montanus 
succeeded  in  drawing  down  to  itself  no  less  a  star  than  the  elo- 
quent and  fiery  Tertullian,  so  Manichgeism  boasts  the  adhesion  of 
the  most  celebrated  of  the  Latin  Fathers.  Augustine,  however, 
threw  himself  at  length  into  the  arms  of  the  Church,  and  remained 
till  death  one  of  its  most  distinguished  ornaments.  In  defending 
the  Faith  from  the  assaults  of  Pelagius,  St.  Augustine  MTote 
treatises  which  in  after  ages  were  much  quoted  by  defenders  of 
that  logical  system  of  Christian  philosophy  known  as  Calvinism. 
In  this  connection  it  is  certainly  a  little  remarkable  that  the  illus- 
trious bishop  of  Hippo  was  a  convert  from  a  sect  tinctured  with 
fatalism,  from  a  speculative  doctrine  which  was  an  elaborate 
attempt  to  account  for  the  origin  of  evil.  This  scheme  had  deter- 
mined that  good  and  evil  issued  originally  from  opposite  sources 
and  were  incurably  hostile  to  each  other,  the  evil  being  ineradica- 
bly  evil  and  in  no  degree  susceptible  of  improvement  or  change. 


62  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

How  easy  was  the  passage  from  this  to  the  doctrine  that  some 
souls  were  created  for  salvation,  and  others  with  a  tendency 
towards  an  irretrievably  downward  course ;  a  doctrine  which,  if 
not  distinctly  held  by  the  Saint,  yet  was  at  least  not  wholly  dis- 
countenanced by  him ! 

And,  on  the  other  hand,  how  easy  a  transit  is  afforded  us  to 
the  Pantheistic  belief  of  the  Universalist!  If  all  souls  did  really 
come  from  the  realm  of  Light,  and  are  only  wicked  so  far  as  they 
have  heen  forciUT/  overcome  by  the  temporarily  triumphant  might 
of  Ahriraan,  how  natural  to  suppose  that  the  final  victory  of 
Ormuzd  will  forever  liberate  all  the  captive  atonis  and  restore 
them  to  the  Being  from  whom  they  emanated,  and  in  whom  they 
are  then  to  be  once  more  absorbed !  It  is  not  to  be  disputed  that 
the  doctrines  o^ Predesttnaticni  and  Universal  Salvation  are  in 
some  respects  diametrically  opposed ;  still  they  meet  in  the  com- 
mon attempt  to  wrest  man's  destiny  out  of  his  own  hands  and 
make  him  a  cockle-shell  driven  by  the  wind,  and  may  very  well 
therefore  have  had  a  common  ancestry. 

Whether  a  similar  pedigree  can  be  found  for  the  wide-spread 
disbelief  in  the  Old  Testament,  which  now  infects  the  learned 
world,  it  may  seem  presumptuous  to  decide ;  and  yet  to  what 
other  quarter  are  we  at  once  led  when  we  proceed  to  ask  who 
first  taught  that  the  Jehovah  of  the  Jews  was  a  different  person 
from  the  "  Father  "  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  thwart  whom  the  Latter 
sent  His  Son  into  the  world,  with  a  commission  to  undeceive 
those  who  had  been  blinded  by  the  Demiurge  or  Creator,  and 
point  out  to  them  the  true  way  of  salvation  ?  If  Cerinthus  was 
the  first,  he  was  not  the  only  one  of  these  numerous  sectaries,  to 
advance  a  theory  so  blasphemous,  in  its  clear  enunciation,  that  one 
may  well  shun  all  that  is  likely  to  leave  him  in  the  companion- 
ship of  those  who  hold  it,  and  resolve  to  cling  reverently  to  the 
Old  Testament  as  indispensable  to  the  proof  and  clear  under- 
standing of  the  New. 


CHAPTEK  YI. 

THE   CHURCH   AS   AN   ESTABLISHMENT. 

"While  far  towards  the  rising  sun  Manes  was  concocting  his 
diabolical  creed,  and  nearer  the  centre  of  the  civilized  world 
Cerinthus  and  Montanus  were  amusing  themselves  by  drawing 
caricatures  of  Christianity,  that  religion  was  making  steady  and 
rapid  progress,  growing  as  the  seed  sown  in  the  earth  grows, 
unnoticed,  unheeded.  The  time  was  approaching  which  should 
witness  the  burstino;  forth  from  the  vieldinff  soil  of  that  tender 
germ,  and  its  vigorous  up-shooting  till  mankind  should  stand 
admiringly  beneath  its  shade.  Proclaiming  the  glad-tidings 
wherever  Je^ash  synagogue  afforded  them  an  audience  and  an 
opportunity,  or  congregation  of  idle  sophists  or  of  the  gaping 
populace  could  be  gathered,  daring  and  enduring  everything, 
carried  forward  by  a  zeal  which  counted  it  all  joy  to  suffer  as  the 
Lord  had  suffered,  directed  by  divine  guidance,  and  upheld  by 
supernatural  comfort,  the  heralds  of  Christ  crossed  mountains, 
forded  rivers,  traced  their  tedious  way  over  the  yielding  sands, 
pierced  jungles,  swamps,  fens,  and  forests,  found  entrance  into 
city,  and  town,  and  village,  and  hamlet,  and  lonely  hut,  preached 
in  jail,  prison,  or  the  stocks,  and  prospered  everywhere.  Depths 
of  mystery  too  profound  for  Athenian  philosophers  were  readily 
sounded  by  the  simple  faith  of  illiterate  countrymen ;  the  certain 
hope  of  a  happy  life  in  another  world  charmed  the  fancy  of  many 
a  weary  pilgrim,  laden  with  sin ;  and  the  heroism  of  taking  up 
and  bearing  one's  cross  drew  from  luxury  and  pomp  many  who 
had  courage  to  follow  the  course  their  judgment  approved. 
Seizing  upon  the  great  cities  of  each  province,  establishing  them- 
selves therein,  and  teaching  and  admonishing  daily  those  who 
flocked  around  them,  the  Apostles  and  their  successors  created 
centres  of  influence  from  which  the  entire  district  could  easily  be 
operated  upon.     By  these  means  TertuUian  in  the  second  century 


64r  THE  CHURCE  AKD   TEE  FAITE. 

conld  utter  his  celebrated  boast,  wbicb,  if  somewhat  tinctured  with 
rhetorical  exaggeration,  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  been  made 
•without  some  color  of  truth,  considering  to  whom  the  Apology 
was  addressed.  Gibbon  calls  similar  language  of  Justin  Martyr 
"  splendid  exaggeration,"  and  yet  himself  shows  that  it  was  correct 
as  it  would  have  been  understood  by  those  for  whom  it  was  meant. 
Winning  its  way  at  first  among  the  fishermen  and  publicans  of 
Galilee,  the  new  religion  soon  borrowed  two  of  its  brightest  orna- 
ments from  the  Sanhedrim  itself,  and  then  enchained  the  magnifi- 
cent genius  of  Gamaliel's  greatest  pupil.  Finding  still  most  ready 
acceptance  among  the  meek  and  lowly  of  the  earth,  it  nevertbe- 
less  lacked  not  adherents  among  the  rich,  learned,  noble,  and 
powerful :  the  palace  itself  was  invaded,  and  the  throne  ceased  to 
frown  upon  those  who  refused  to  offer  incense  at  the  established 
altars.  Alexander  Severus,  influenced  probably  by  his  mother 
Mamnpa,  was  decidedly  partial  to  them,  and  Philip  \vent,  perhaps, 
beyond  his  predecessor  in  favoring  them.  With  the  fourth  cen- 
tury dawned  a  new  era  for  the  persecuted  Church.  Xo  longer 
would  she  be  compelled  to  hide  in  catacombs  and  thickets  and 
upper  rooms,  no  longer  must  she  walk  abroad  with  bated  breath 
dreading  a  dangerous  foe  in  every  stranger,  no  more  need  she 
stoop  to  the  humble  language  of  apology,  deprecation,  and 
enti'eaty.  Her  dark  days  have  passed.  She  has  asserted  her 
right  to  recognition.  She  has  won  from  Caesar  his  subjects  and 
his  soldiers,  and  left  the  Pontifex  Maximus  to  lament  over 
deserted  rites  and  forsaken  shrines.  She  has  already  laid  a  strong 
hand  upon  the  throne  of  Jupiter,  and  shaken  it  till  Olympus,  and 
Greece,  and  Italy  tremble  as  with  the  shock  of  an  earthquake. 
The  question  now  is.  Shall  Rome  come  down  from  her  exalted 
seat,  or  shall  she  acknowledge  the  Nazarene  f  He  who  possesses 
the  confidence  of  the  Christians,  he  among  the  numerous  con- 
testants for  supreme  control  of  the  vast  empire  who  shall  carry 
with  him  the  hearty  support  of  Christian  voices  and  Christian 
pikes,  that  competitor  will  snatch  the  purple.  So  thought  the 
far-sighted  Constantino  when  the  battle  of  the  Milvian  bridge  had 
destroyed  a  formidable  antagonist,  admitted  him  victorious  into 
the  imperial  city,  and  heaped  fresh  fuel  upon  the  ambition  which 
had  blazed  forth  amid  the  legions  of  Britain.  Six  months  from 
that  date  the  famous  Edict  of  Milan  proclaimed  him  the  patron 
of  Christianity,  and  made  the  year  a.  d.  313  illustrious  as  a  turning 


THE  CHURCH  AS  AN  ESTABLISHMENT.  05 

point  in  ecclesiastical  history.  This  M'as  no  more  than  a  proclama- 
tion of  toleration,  giving  Christianity  no  greater  rights  than 
Paganism  enjoyed :  this  it  was  in  form,  but  in  reality  it  fell  but 
little  short  of  constituting  the  former  the  legal  religion  of  the 
empire,  and  pledging  the  secular  arm  to  the  support  of  that  faith 
which  the  ruler  professed.  Certainly  the  sharp  edge  of  imperial 
displeasure  soon  descended  upon  those  who  disturbed  the  peace 
of  the  Church  by  teaching  what  was  adjudged  to  be  heresy ;  a 
measure  which  was  wholly  unjustifiable  according  to  modern 
conceptions  of  governmental  duty.  Also,  in  the  very  next  reign, 
the  son  of  the  first  Christian  emperor  is  said  to  have  gone  the 
length  of  enacting  against  the  heathen  the  very  penal  laws  which 
had  weighed  so  heavily  in  former  times  upon  their  antagonists ; 
and  even  if  the  truth  of  this  report  be  more  than  questionable,  it 
is  at  least  sure  that  he  did  all  in  his  power  to  favor  the  latter,  and 
render  adhesion  to  the  ancient  system  unpleasant  at  best,  if  not 
positively  injurious  and  unsafe. 

What  brush  shall  paint  the  exuberant  joy  of  the  Christians 
when  the  conversion  of  the  world's  monarch  at  last  ended  the 
protracted  period  of  their  bondage  with  such  a  triumph;  or  give 
appropriate  coloring  to  the  golden  sky  of  promise  which  then 
replaced  the  ashy  clouds  that  had  so  long  hung  fixedly  above 
them,  only  parting  now  and  again  to  make  way  for  the  red  bolt 
of  persecution !  If  the  gallant  bark  had  ridden  so  staunchly 
through  all  the  storm,  making  the  while  such  excellent  headway 
against  the  raging  blasts  and  furious  sea,  what  could  she  not 
accomplish  with  the  trade-wind  of  public  support  bending  her 
squared  yards  and  her  lofty  prow  chasing  the  blue  waves  as  they 
dance  before  her  ?  Henceforth  the  timid  need  not  refrain  from 
openly  confessing  their  Saviour,  nor  the  weak  be  withheld  by 
mercenary  considerations.  Missionary  enterprise  may  now  be 
carried  on  with  tenfold  success,  hampered  by  no  deficiency  of 
money,  for  Rome's  favorite  can  never  want  for  silver.  Temples 
will  now  arise  in  every  city,  attracting  multitudes  by  the  beauty 
of  their  architecture  and  the  grandeur  of  their  worship.  Heresy, 
schism,  skepticism,  and  ungodliness  will  faint  and  fall  before  the 
majestic  countenance  of  the  triumphant  Church.  Such  must  have 
been  the  visions  which,  like  lovely  flowers,  sprang  up  everywhere 
behind  the  rumor  of  this  wonderful  change  in  the  imperial  policy ; 
and  who  cannot  sympathize  with  those  who  plucked  them?    Were 


66  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

not  all  nations  to  become  the  kingdoms  of  the  Lord  and  of  His 
Christ?      Were    not   kings   to   become    nursing   fathers   of   the 
Church,  and  queens  her  nursing  mothers?     If  the  Church  was 
God's  Church  iodeed,  why  sliould  not  the  powers  of  the  earth 
take  it  under  their  protection  and  do  what  they  could  to  promote 
its  interests  ?     If  all  the  people  of  a  nation  owe  allegiance  to  the 
Christian's  God,  why  should  they  not  pay  this  debt  ciyilly  as  well 
as  religiously ;  or,  under  the  other  theory,  if  the  supreme  ruler  is 
God's  representative,  why  should  he  not  administer  public  affiiirs 
with  chief  regard  to  the  welfare  of  God's  children  ?     Thus  Script- 
ure and  reason  appeared  to  conspire  in  pointing  out  this  as  the 
most  auspicious    event    that   had    occurred    since    the   Church's 
infancy.     Men  crowded  upon  the  deck  and,  as  they  watched  the 
foam  glide  rapidly  past,  and  lifted  an   occasional  glance  to  the 
clouds  of  white  canvas,  unconscioush'  strained  their  eyes  to  catch 
a  glimpse  of  the  port  towards  which  the  good  ship  was  bounding. 
Alas !     All  too  soon  the  clouds  gathered,  and  the  sea  rose  so 
that  the  vessel  labored  even  more  heavily  than  before.    That  pride 
of  canvas  was  swiftly  diminished  by  the  reefer's  hand,  or  torn  into 
shreds  and  borne  away  on  the  gale.     Men  forgot  to  look  for  the 
harbor  light.     "Wherein  the  expectations  so  sadly  blighted  were 
wrong  may  be  hard  to  ascertain  theoretically,  and  yet  this  point 
of  abstract  justice  deserves  to  be  considered,  Can  any  nation  make 
laws  favoring  any  particular  religion  without  trespassing  upon  the 
liberties  of  its  subjects?     It  is  indisputably  an  inalienable  right  of 
man  to  choose  his  own  faith.     If  this  foith  obliges  him  to  offend 
ajjainst  his  neiirhbor,  of  course  to  that  extent  its  exercise  must  be 
restrained  by  any  well-ordered  government ;  but  otherwise  he  has 
an  unlimited  right  to  believe  any  inconsistency,  folly,  or  blas- 
phemy he  sees  fit  to  adopt,  and  no  brother  man  can  call  him  to 
account  for  so  doing.     Nor  is  it  apparent  why  a  collection  of  men 
has  any  better  right  to  do  this  than  a  single  individual  would 
have.     It  is  a  poor  rule  which  will  not  work  l)oth  ways.     If 
because  a  large  majority  of  the  population  is  Christian  it  has  a 
right  to  put  obstacles  in  the  way  of  enjoying  another  religion, 
then  when  that  other  religion  gains  the  supremacy  it  has  the  same 
right  to  place  restraint  upon  Chi'istianity.    Julian  or  Constantius 
was  as  much  justified  in  striving  to  put  the  Catholics  down,  as 
Constantino  or  Theodosius,  in  endeavoring  to  suppress  paganism. 
If  Christianity  ought  to  burn  a  mosque  simply  because  it  is  a 


m 


THE  CHURCH  AS  Al^  ESTABLISHMENT.  67 

mosque,  then  Mohammedanism  should  lire  every  church  it  can 
reach.  We  Christians  complain  bitterly  when  our  mode  of  wor- 
ship is  forbidden,  crying  out  that  we  ought  to  be  protected  in 
worshiping  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  our  own  consciences. 
What  excuse  then  can  we  give  for  our  unfairness  in  telling  the 
Chinese  immigrant  that  he  must  pack  away  his  Josh  and  send  the 
hideous  thing  back  to  his  own  land  ?  Christianity,  we  are  told  in 
reply,  is  true,  and  all  other  religions  false.  True,  but  are  we 
Mussulmans  to  convert  unbelievers  with  the  sword,  or  Inquisitors 
to  burn  their  bodies  for  the  good  of  their  souls  ?  But  cannot  a 
religion  be  estaUished,  that  is,  be  the  authorized  religion  of  the 
State,  without  going  these  lengths  in  oppressing  others?  In 
theory,  of  course,  it  can.  It  may  be  only  so  far  the  public 
religion,  that  its  forms  are  observed  in  public  ceremonies,  its 
property  exempted  from  bearing  public  bm-dens,  its  officers  guar- 
anteed the  unmolested  execution  of  their  functions,  and  its 
adherents  distinguished  by  peculiar  privileges  ;  while  every  other 
is  free  to  exist  and  propagate  itself  as  best  it  can.  In  much  the 
same  way  a  particular  medical  school  might  be  countenanced  by 
the  government,  and  exclusively  employed  by  it,  and  yet  another 
2)erhaps  have  no  cause  to  protest  against  a  partiality  which  left 
it  free  to  sustain  itself  if  it  could.  The  difficulty  in  all  such 
cases  is  that,  human  nature  being  what  it  is,  a  predominant 
party  will  always  take  advantage  of  its  good  fortune  to  domineer 
over  its  rivals. 

A  philosophic  mind  might  have  foreseen  certain  inevitable 
results  of  a  coalition  between  Church  and  State.  History  bears 
witness  that  one  of  the  earliest  consequences  was  an  interference 
of  the  civil  power  in  the  doctrinal  disputes  of  the  ecclesiastical ; 
an  interposition  which  seemed,  perhaps,  rather  beneficial  than 
otherwise,  while  it  ranged  itself  on  the  side  of  the  Catholics  and 
confined  itself  mainly  to  restraining  undue  ardor  in  discussion ; 
but  became  decidedly  the  reverse  of  agreeable  as  soon  as  the 
monarch's  theology  ceased  to  conform  to  that  of  the  received 
doctors,  and  impelled  him  to  uphold  the  Arians  and  drive  into 
repeated  exile  the  mighty  champion  of  orthodoxy.  What  could 
be  more  certainly,  more  thoroughly,  and  more  rapidly  fatal  to  the 
true  faith  than  to  have  its  doctrines  settled  for  it  by  the  fiat  of  a 
despot,  or  in  any  way  to  hang  upon  the  breath  of  civil  authority  ? 
Yet  who  could  have  been  so  simple,  what  unlettered  peasant  could 


68  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

have  entertained  such  implicit  confidence  in  the  single-mindedness 
of  rulers,  as  to  suppose  for  an  instant  that  Imperial  Protection  and 
Patronage  would  not  involve  Imperial  oversight  and  Imperial 
meddling  in  what  did  not  belong  to  its  province.  Another 
result  Avould  be  that  worldly  aggrandizement  would  soon  encroach 
upon  the  primitive  lowliness  of  the  ministry,  defacing  sadly  the 
pure  countenance  of  God's  ambassador.  A  prelate  of  more  than 
ordinary  ability,  of  fervid  eloquence,  of  great  administrative  power, 
and  of  winning  address,  swaying  with  absolute  control  the  popu- 
lace of  a  gi'eat  city  or  of  a  whole  province,  and  with  almost 
unlimited  wealth  at  his  disposal  derived  from  the  spontaneous 
offerings  of  the  people,  was  in  a  position  to  bid  defiance  to  the 
government,  or  else  to  be  its  valuable  auxiliary.  An  emperor 
who  sat  insecurely  upon  the  throne,  whicli  he  had  obtained  by 
open  force,  or  secret  assassination,  or  liberal  use  of  money,  or 
audacious  effrontery,  as  so  many  an  emperor  did,  would  be  ready 
to  court,  flatter,  and  reward  the  bishop,  archbishop,  or  patriarch 
who  would  forge  for  liim  the  thunderbolts  of  ecclesiastical  protec- 
tion. And  what  bishop  would  be  so  regardless  of  the  opportu- 
nities thus  afforded  him  as  not  to  improve  them  to  the  utmost, 
for  the  benefit  of  tlie  great  cause,  if  not  for  his  own  individual 
advaiitage?  Then,  too,  the  legitimate  sphere  of  the  priesthood 
would  furTiish  many  facilities  for  wresting  from  a  conscience- 
stricken  pi'ince,  anxious,  perhaps,  that  his  misdeeds  sliould  not  be 
made  known  to  discontented  subjects,  or  fearful  that  the  balance 
of  the  great  Account  might  not  be  in  his  favor,  gifts  of  money, 
lands,  titles,  and  prerogatives.  And  who  could  say  that  the 
spiritual  adviser,  who  counseled  the  royal  penitent  to  be  liberal 
towards  the  Church,  had  abused  the  sanctity  of  the  confessional  or 
the  solemnity  of  the  death-bed?  In  the  case  of  an  unestablished 
Church,  or  of  any  functionary  thereof,  that  should  creep  into  the 
good  graces  of  a  monarch,  favor  of  course  could  be  shown  and 
almost  unlimited  privileges  granted,  but  these  could  hardly 
become  matters  of  hereditary  right  unless  conferred  by  enactment ; 
by  the  passage  of  which  the  condition  of  not  being  established 
would  immediately  cease. 

The  evils  that  arose  with  the  growth  of  episcopal  importance 
and  power  were  two,  conspicuous  upon  almost  every  page  of  his- 
tory from  Theodosius  down  to  our  own  time.  In  the  first 
place,  the  character  of  those  who  ruled  the  Church  was  directly 


THE  CnUBCH  AS  AN  ESTABLISUMENT.  69 

and  gravely  lowered.  Human  nature  is  very  much  the  same 
within  the  Church  and  outside  of  it ;  nor  is  elevation  to  exalted 
station  therein  any  certain  guarantee  that  the  person  so  raised  is 
impervious  to  ordinary  mundane  influences.  Men  who  enter  holy 
orders  thoroughly  self-devoted  to  the  exclusive  work  of  their  hich 
calling,  and  with  no  thought  but  to  promote  the  glory  of  God  and 
advance  the  salvation  of  their  fellow-men,  sometimes  permit  other 
motives  to  find  permanent  lodging  within  and  then  to  expel  little 
"by  little  the  rightful  tenants  of  the  domicile.  Is  it  not  too  much 
to  expect  that  a  bishop  should  direct  the  ordinary  affairs  of  a 
province,  and  expend  as  much  pains  upon  the  spiritual  oversight 
of  his  flock  as  another  whose  time  is  not  thus  taken  up  and  his 
attention  distracted  by  the  comparatively  insignificant  anxieties  of 
secular  management ;  or  that  one  shut  off  from  contact  with  the 
rough  world,  and  gradually  accustomed,  during  fifty  years,  per- 
chance, to  the  adulation,  luxury,  and  pomp  of  a  princely  station, 
should  retain  the  humble-mindedness,  unworldliness,  and  self- 
sacrificing  spirit  that  may  have  conspicuously  marked  his  earlier 
days?  And  besides  that  these  sources  of  deterioration  would 
afiect  the  occupants  themselves,  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  serious 
evils  would  result  from  these  high  stations  being  sought  by 
aspirants  who  had  nothing  to  recommend  them  except  intellectual 
ability  and  unscrupulous  ambition ;  candidates  who  cared  not  so 
much  for  the  sheep  as  for  the  fleeces,  not  so  much  for  the  temple 
as  for  the  palace ;  men  so  bad  at  the  outset  that  circumstances  had 
little  to  do  but  give  scope  for  the  viciousness  to  display  itself,  who 
certainly  would  have  felt  little  inducement  to  intrude  themselves 
upon  a  Church  whose  poverty  was  mitigated  only  by  hopes  for  the 
hereafter. 

In  the  second  place,  as  soon  as  the  Bishop  has  been  established 
as  a  high  officer  of  the  State,  the  Church  is  no  longer  likely  to 
enjoy  undisturbed  freedom  of  electing  to  the  vacant  seat  such  as 
she  judges  meekest  and  holiest,  as  well  as  ablest  and  boldest,  and 
so  fittest  to  rule  in  the  kingdom  of  God ;  but  the  king  or  em- 
peror, dreading  the  independence  of  some  sturdy  churchman,  or 
desiring  to  reward  some  favorite  of  his  own,  will  insist  that  he 
himself  shall  have  an  equal,  if  not  a  paramount,  voice  in  the  ap- 
pointment. Also,  the  ecclesiastical  authority  will  not  be  allowed 
to  displace  such  appointees  when  it  has  decided  that  they  are 
neglecting  or  abusing  their  powers,  but  will  be  obliged  to  sus- 


70  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

pend  indefinitely  righteous  sentence  against  heretical,  worldly, 
and  impious  dignitaries,  because  they  happen  to  be  useful  to  the 
civil  ruler.  The  Church  could  not  tamely  submit  to  such  dicta- 
tion, and  see  all  important  stations  within  her  proper  gift  be- 
stowed and  retained  at  the  will  of  a  power  more  or  less  opposed 
to  her  interest ;  nor,  on  the  other  Jiand,  was  it  to  be  expected  that 
a  Charlemagne  or  a  Charles  the  Fifth  would  complacently  be- 
hold the  territories,  fortresses,  troops,  supplies,  and  revenues  of 
vast  sections  pass  into  the  hands  of  one  estranged  from  the  policy 
of  the  empire  tlii'ough  birth,  education,  and  the  tenure  by  wliicli 
he  held.  Hence  would  and  did  arise  long  and  bitter  strife,  from 
which  neither  party  could  recede  without  endangering  its  very 
existence.  The  famous  Investiture  Controversy  kept  the  Empire 
and  the  Papacy  at  swords'  points  for  centuries,  though  nominally 
it  lasted  only  from  1059  to  1122  a.  d.  Said  the  House  of  Fran- 
conia  or  the  House  of  Hohenstaufen :  AVe  cannot  sutler  this 
foreign  potentate,  this  haughty,  avaricious,  ambitious  Pope,  seated 
in  security  on  the  other  side  of  the  Alps,  to  set  up  and  pull  down 
at  his  pleasure  the  first  princes  of  the  realm  and  others  who,  if 
inferior  to  the  Prince  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  are  nevertheless 
temporal  Lords  of  no  mean  importance.  Else  farewell  to  our 
independence  as  a  nation,  and  to  all  hopes  of  consolidation,  prog- 
ress, and  renown  !  Far  better  would  it  be  that  we  should  send  an 
humble  delegation  to  the  Sovereign  Pontiff",  and  entreat  him  to 
take  in  his  own  grasp  the  sword  we  are  too  feeble  to  wield,  and 
relieve  us  from  all  further  trouble  and  anxiety  in  the  management 
of  our  concerns,  the  preservation  of  domestic  peace  and  the  pro- 
tection of  our  borders  from  inroads  and  invasions.  Said  Hilda- 
brand  and  those  who  inherited  the  prestige  with  which  he  had 
surrounded  the  tiara,  and  especially,  we  may  suppose,  those  of 
them  who  successively  encircled  the  original  round  hat  with  the 
three  crowns  it  presently  boasted,  xsicholas  I.,  Boniface  VIII., 
and  Urban  Y. :  Shall  the  Lord's  Anointed  derive  his  title  from 
CfEsar?  Shall  priest,  bishop,  and  Pope  dance  attendance  in  the 
very  exercise  of  their  holiest  functions  upon  one  who,  if  not  ac- 
tually an  ungodly  person  or  an  unbeliever,  is  certainly  not  fit  to 
rule  those  who  are  commissioned  over  the  Lord's  heritage,  in  the 
affairs  of  that  heritage  ?  Shall  they  to  whom  all  power  in  earth  and 
heaven  has  been  given  by  Him  to  whom  it  belongs ;  shall  they 
who  have  been  intrusted  with  authority  to  bind  and  loose  on  earth 


THE  CHURCH  AS  AN  ESTABLISHMENT.  71 

with  assurance  that  their  acts  shall  be  ratified  in  heaven ;  shall 
he  whose  right  hand  holds  the  keys  of  heaven  and  hell,  be  des- 
ignated, installed,  deposed  by  an  earthly  potentate,  the  worth- 
less offspring  of  a  degenerate  race,  the  ruthless  victor  of  a  dozen 
bloody  fields,  or  the  crafty  master  of  the  trickster's  art  ?     Out  of 
such   a   dispute  what   way  was  open  ?      One   in  whose   bosom 
smouldered  a  single  ember  of  patriotism  could  not  yield  his  coun- 
try over  to  the  intriguing  of  a  foreign  potentate :  one  in  whose 
breast  lingered  the  faintest  spark  of  churchmanship  would  extend 
himself  on  St.  Valentine's  hard  couch,  rather  than  consent  that 
those,  who  have  for  their  function  to  minister  witli  clean  hands  at 
God's  altar,  should  be  the  satraps  of  a  despot.     When  patriotism 
and  churchmanship,  when  duty  to  one's  country  and  duty  to  one's 
Church,  come  into  confiict,  what  man,  who  feels  himself  to  be  but 
a  pilgrim  on  this  earth,  dare  forfeit  his  title  to  citizenship  in  the 
other  country  by  enrolling  himself  under  a  hostile  banner  ?    Against 
all  usurpations  of  the  Empire,  Hildebrand  stood  firm  as  a  rock 
and  valiant  as  a  lion,  tln-ough  several  changes  of  government  and 
various  pontificates,  seemingly  possessed  with  the  grand  idea  that 
he  had  been  marked  by  destiny  as  the  deliverer  of  the  Church  from 
the   unhallowed   embrace  of  Civil   Authority.     Through   many 
years  the  fierce  strife  raged,  Henry  lY.  now  ignominiously  sub- 
mitting at  Canossa,  but  soon  thereafter  triumjihing  over  his  an- 
tagonist, who  became  a  prisoner  in  the  besieged  fortress  of  St. 
Angelo  until  rescued  and  carried  to  Salerno  by  that  redoubtable 
Norman,  Robert  Guiscard.     His  death,  however,  left  the  Papacy 
in  the  ascendant  and  advancing  steadily  towards  the  culmination 
it  gained  under  Innocent  HI.     It  is  true  that  a  compromise  was 
made  a  few  decades  later,  but  what  substance  could  there  be  in  such 
a  compromise  ?     It  was  solemnly  agreed  between  Henry  Y.  and 
Calixtus  II.  that  thenceforward  the  ring  and  crosiei-  should  be 
conferred  upon  bishops  and  abbots  by  the  Church,  and  a  sceptre 
be  given  them  by  the  Empire,  the  former  being  regarded  as  sym- 
bols of  ecclesiastical  dominion,  and  the  latter  as  betokening;  the 
civil  domination  confided  to  their  hands ;  and  thus  it  was  to  be 
represented  that  they  held  under  both  powers,  from  both  sources, 
an  authority  to  be  employed  for  the  benefit  of  both.     We  can- 
not say  that  the  Concordat  entered  into  at  the  Diet  of  Worms 
was  wholly  impotent ;    though  it  is  not  easy  to  see  that  it  ac- 
complished much  more  than  a  transference  of  the  contest  from 


72  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

the  battle-ground  to  the  cabinet,  for,  while  the  name  Investitures 
may  from  that  date  occur  less  frequently  upon  the  historic 
page,  the  struggle  for  universal  and  exclusive  dominion  be- 
tween the  two  parties  goes  on  with  unabated  virulence  until  the 
blue-eyed  race  of  the  Korth  appeared  upon  the  fields  of  Leipsic 
and  Lutzen. 

Thus  by  the  light  of  history  do  we  perceive  how  great  was  the 
error  of  Christianity  when  it  mistook  the  evanescent  flashings  of 
an  Aurora  Borealis  for  the  early  hues  of  dawn.  Did  she  expect 
that  the  lion  would  extend  his  claws  to  be  clipped  ?  That  which 
constitutes  the  inherent  vice  of  a  Democracy  is  precisely  what 
makes  a  union  of  Church  and  State  unadvisable ;  men  are  not 
what  thev  should  be,  what  thev  nnist  be  before  thev  can  be  trusted 
with  such  freedom  as  seems  commensurate  with  their  noble  intel- 
lectual faculties,  what  they  never  can  be  this  side  of  tlie  grave 
unless  a  millennium  is  really  to  precede  the  final  catastrophe.  As 
long  as  the  world  is  what  we  sadly  know  it  to  be,  nominally 
Christian,  but  actually  unconverted,  we  cannot  expect  much  of 
good  to  come  from  a  close  alliance  between  it  and  the  maiden 
who  is  destined  to  be  the  bride  of  Christ.  Another  sad  mistake 
she  made,  if  she  thought  to  increase  her  influence  and  importance 
by  summoning  swords  and  spears  to  her  assistance.  How  much 
grander  was  the  triumph  of  Ambrose,  in  a  day  when  the  Church 
liad  hardlv  bejrun  to  feel  that  she  was  established,  than  that  of 
Ilildebrand  six  centuries  later !  Both  of  these  men  succeeded  in 
forcing  into  the  position  of  penitents  the  most  powerful  sovereign 
of  their  times:  in  both  cases  the  submission  finally  extorted  was 
practically  absolute.  He  of  Milan  employed  no  weapons  but  those 
of  rebuke  and  loving  entreaty,  while  the  equally-devoted  prelate 
of  Rome  enlisted  troops  and  encouraged  an  usurper.  Behold 
the  results!  Ambrose's  victory  was  complete,  tightening  about 
Theodosius  the  bands  of  a  willing  subjection  to  the  law  of 
love,  and  adding  to  the  esteem  with  which  the  emperor  had 
previously  regarded  the  fearless  bishop ;  but  Gregory's  incensed 
and  exasperated  his  royal  penitent,  who  soon  appeared  in  arms 
affaiust  the  man  who  had  humiliated  him  to  the  extent  of  com- 
pelling  him  to  stand  several  days  bare-footed  and  bare-headed 
in  the  snow,  and  led  on  to  the  inevitable  reaction  which  lifted 
hio'h  its  crest  when  William  de  Nogaret  smote  the  shaven  head 
of  Boniface,  humbling  the  Papacy  as  perhaps  it  never  has  been 


TEE  CHURCH  AS  AN  ESTABLISHMENT.  73 

bumbled  before  and  since  tbat  audacious  deed  of  Pbilip's  emis- 
sary. Truly,  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  not  of  this  world ;  and 
in  proportion  as  His  servants  place  their  reliance  upon  other 
than  spiritual  powers,  in  that  degree  will  they  feel  slipping 
from  their  fingers  that  power  which  He  has  given  them,  the 
sceptre  of  which  is  love. 


CHAPTEE  YIL 

THEORY    OF    GENERAL   COUNCILS. 

Scarcely  has  the  sun  of  Imperial  favor  begun  to  shine  upon 
the  jubilant  Church  when  insidious  foes  threaten  her  very  exist- 
ence as  it  never  has  been  menaced  before  ;  but  previously  to  study- 
infj  the  nature  of  these  various  heresies  that  rose  against  her,  it 
Mill  be  best  to  pause  and  examine  carefully  the  shield  which 
received  and  turned  aside  the  deadly  weapons  of  the  assailants. 
Tliis  seems  the  proper  place  to  discuss  the  subject  of  General 
Councils. 

The  Saviour  of  mankind  is  universally  acknowledged  to  have 
been,  wdiat  He  distinctly  and  repeatedly  claimed  that  He  was,  a 
teacher.  His  mission  was  to  give  men  a  fuller,  profounder,  and 
more  perfect  knowledge  of  God,  of  themselves,  and  of  their  rela- 
tions to  God.  His  was  no  stammering  tongue,  but  one  w^hich 
uttered  with  accuracy  and  emphasis  the  message  entrusted  to 
Him.  Lawgivers,  priests,  prophets,  and  kings  had  already  pro- 
claimed such  fragments  of  divine  truth  as  they  had  been  able  to 
grasp;  but  the  God-man  Christ  Jesus,  himself  the  TrufJt^  spake 
as  never  man  had  spoken  before.  The  method  of  His  revelation 
was  one  that  conformed  itself  to  the  immediate  demands  of  the 
occasion.  As  Christ  perceived  that  the  hearts  He  so  easily  read 
needed  a  particular  lesson  or  were  ready  to  assimilate  it.  He  gave 
that  lesson  in  plain,  straightforward  language,  careless  of  the  logi- 
cal arrangement  of  the  schools.  We  can  hardly  imagine  Him  act- 
ing otherwise.  The  Christian  mind  refuses  to  picture  the  Master 
discoursing,  after  the  fashion  of  the  philosophers,  with  regularly 
arranged  heads,  and  divisions  and  subdivisions,  and  in  the  tech- 
nical phraseology  of  later  times.  Why  ?  Because  there  was  no 
vast,  comprehensive,  exact  system  of  theology  into  which  every 
single  precept  might  have  been  fitted  ?  Certainly  that  cannot  be 
the  reason,  for  the  Almighty  mind  comprehends,  we  may  safely 


THEORY  OF  GENERAL   COUNCILS.  75 

say,  not  only  all  divinity,  but  all  truth  and  fact  of  all  kinds  what- 
soever, in  one  all-embracing  unity  of  plan.  JSTor  will  the  devout 
believer  be  easily  brought  to  allow  that  there  did  not  exist  the 
very  perfection  of  method  in  our  Lord's  order  of  producing  out  of 
the  inexhaustible  treasury  of  His  knowledge  those  injunctions  and 
principles  which  He  intended  to  leave  behind  Him.  The  objec- 
tion lies  not  against  the  existence  of  method  and  system,  but 
against  the  pedantry  of  exhibiting  them.  So  perfect  was  the 
arrangement  that  none  but  the  eye  of  Him  who  made  is  compe- 
tent thoroughly  to  trace  it  out. 

What  was  possible  to  the  Master  was  far  above  the  scope  of 
the  disciples'  minds.  They  had  not,  it  is  true,  learned  their  own 
lesson  by  rote ;  but  they  must,  in  a  measure  at  least,  teach  it  to 
others  in  that  way  or  run  a  great  risk  of  leading  their  pupils  off 
the  right  track.  Man  must  systematize  his  knowledge  before  he 
can  impart  it  to  others,  and  indeed  in  order  to  reflect  upon  it 
himself  with  a  view  to  its  preservation  and  enlargement.  What 
would  be  thought  of  the  scholar  who  should  soberly  argue  that 
it  is  supei-fluous,  injurious,  pedantic,  naiTow,  to  systematize  our 
knowledge  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  of  the  successive  layers  of  pri- 
meval rock  beneath  our  feet,  of  the  ferns,  mosses,  shrubs,  and 
trees  of  our  forests,  of  the  prominent  events  and  mighty  convul- 
sions that  have  marked  the  different  eras  of  the  world's  life,  of  the 
varying  phenomena  of  the  ever-acting  human  mind  ?  Would  we 
believe  the  person  sane  who  should  insist  that  the  cause  of  science 
would  be  best  subserved  by  allowing  what  we  know  in  these 
several  branches  to  lie  strewn  about  in  promiscuous  confusion? 
What  is  knowledge  but  the  comparing  of  kindred  facts,  or  the 
dissecting  of  one  great  fact  into  a  number  of  small  ones  which  we 
label  and  place  in  their  appropriate  pigeon-holes  ?  How  do  we 
acquire  knowledge  but  by  systematizing  ?  If  religion  is  folly,  if  it 
is  the  dream  of  a  bewildered  fancy,  then  let  us  not  disturb  it  with 
om-  logical  processes ;  but  if  it  is  wisdom,  if  it  deserves  the  sober 
attention  of  an  intelligent  mind,  let  us  hold  it  up  to  the  light, 
examine  it  on  all  sides,  apply  to  it  every  proper  test. 

As  soon  as  the  infant  Church  possessed  a  mind  capable,  by 
reason  of  scholastic  training,  of  forming  a  system  of  theology,  that 
great  work  was  begun.  Saul  of  Tarsus,  bringing  to  bear  upon 
the  new  revelation  the  trained  acuteness  of  a  ripe  intellect,  imme- 
diately commenced  to  compare,  and  combine,  and  analyze,  until 


76  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH 

he  evolved  the  theology  which  guided  his  preaching  throughout 
his  entire  ministrv.  If  a  definite  and  lotjicallv-exact  system  does 
not  underlie  the  argument  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  it  may 
be  boldlv  afiirmed  that  no  human  intellect  has  ever  yet  shown 
itself  equal  to  the  sublime  undertaking  of  evolving  systems  of 
anything;  but  that  all  which  are  dignified  with  that  term  are 
utter  shanis. 

As  long  as  any  opinion  or  belief  is  unquestioned  it  is  very 
likely  to  remain  vague  and  indefinite.  If  astronomer,  geologist, 
or  metaphysician  advances  some  new  theory,  he  may  for  a  while 
neglect  to  examine  its  limitations  with  great  minuteness,  and  con- 
tent himself  with  a  general  idea  of  its  size  and  configuration  (so  to 
speak).  Before  long,  however,  some  rival  scientist  or  philosopher, 
or  the  common  sense  of  the  people,  vn\\  begin  to  scrutinize,  doubt, 
perhaps  deny.  Now,  unless  our  theorist  is  able  to  describe  and 
establish  the  metes  and  bounds  of  his  theory,  it  will  fare  hard 
with  hira  and  his  notions,  so  that  he  will  soon  wish  that  he  had 
not  been  so  rash  in  advocating  an  untenable  hypothesis.  What 
would  the  world  think  and  say  of  the  man  who,  finding  himself 
in  this  predicament,  should  raise  his  hands  in  deprecation  of  such 
harsh  treatment,  and  beg  mankind  to  accept  his  theory  with 
unquestioning  faith?  The  world's  sense  of  politeness  would 
hardly  restrain  it  from  bursting  out  in  a  shout  of  derision.  The 
world  will  not  listen  to  any  teaching  that  cannot  support  itself  by 
plausible  reasoning;  and  indeed  it  would  not  be  able  to  act 
difierently  if  it  wished.  Mankind  at  large  may  use  a  very  imper- 
fect sort  of  logic,  may  take  a  great  amount  of  its  belief  at  second 
hand  from  those  to  whom  it  looks  up  as  leaders,  may  not  be  very 
capable  of  pursuing  an  elaborate  argument,  may  fall  into  numer- 
ous and  gross  errors  ;  but  still  it  must  at  least  imagine  that  right 
reasonins:  sanctions  its  conclusions  and  its  conduct.  Call  this  the 
thralldom  of  logic,  if  you  will;  but  reflect  at  the  same  time  that 
the  only  way  of  emancipating  us  from  this  thralldom  is  to  dethrone 
reason  and  make  lunatics  of  us. 

Religion  is  not  exempted  from  submission  to  the  same  law. 
So  long  as  the  whole  Faith,  or  any  particular  thereof,  was  not 
examined  too  closely,  it  might,  without  great  immediate  danger, 
be  held  in  a  disjointed,  misty  fashion  ;  but  the  moment  men  began 
to  apply  to  it  the  searching  test  of  the  microscope  and  the  crucible, 
it  became  necessary  to  mould  the  doctrines  into  well-rounded 


THEORY  OF  GENERAL  COUNCILS.  77 

forms,  and  fit  tliera  all  together  into  one  compact  whole.  It  would 
never  have  answered  to  warn  people  from  meddling  by  setting  up 
a  huge  sign,  Hands  off;  for  there  was  no  power  to  compel  obedi- 
ence to  such  a  command,  and  the  hands  would  have  forthwith 
proceeded  all  the  same  to  pluck,  and  tear,  and  pull  in  pieces. 
Wliat  good  would  have  come  from  bidding  Arius  to  refrain  from 
sounding  depths  which  it  might,  mayhap,  have  been  more  rever- 
ent and  prudent  not  to  try  wath  the  plummet?  What  would 
have  been  the  result,  either,  had  the  Church  resolutely  remained 
silent  in  the  great  crisis  and  left  the  faith  to  shift  for  itself?  Does 
it  require  great  strength  of  sight  to  see  that,  if  Athanasius  had  not 
wielded  the  weapon  of  logic  with  masteriy  skill,  Arius  would  have 
won  the  day  and  foisted  in  his  spurious  tenets  as  the  true  and 
ancient  faith  of  the  Church  ? 

Besides,  even  had  no  attack  ever  been  made  upon  the  old  and 
simple,  faith,  had  for  instance  no  deadly  errors  ever  been  dis- 
seminated concerning  the  wondrous  Incarnation  of  our  Blessed 
Lord,  would  there  not  still  have  existed  most  excellent  reasons 
for  casting  the  different  teachings  He  had  given  His  disciples  into 
a  systematic  form?     In  the  effort  which   every  pious   mind  is 
bound  to  make  for  as  thorough  an  understanding  of  all  God  has 
been  pleased  to  reveal  as  it  is  capable  of  compassing,  how  shall  it 
escape  the  inevitable  tendency  towards  theorizing  and  systematiz- 
ing?    The  uneducated  are  not  so  entirely  under  this  necessity 
as  those  are  who  have  been  trained  into  habits  of  consecutive 
thought.  Coleridge  discovers  in  this  difference  a  most  vital  distinc- 
tion between  the  two  classes  of  people,  remarking  that  one  of  the 
chief  advantages  of  education  is  that  it  both  enables  a  man  to 
foresee  the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  to  advance  towards  the 
achievement  of  his  clearly  defined  purpose  by  a  series  of  regular 
approaches,  either  through  the  clauses  of  a  sentence  or  the  sus- 
tained march  of  a  labored  discourse.     If  the  scholar,  improving 
the  opportunities  afforded  by  the  silent  watches  of  the  night,  and 
impelled  not  improbably  by  the  heavy  hand  of  the  Lord  upon 
him,  undertakes  the  contemplation  of  any  fact  in  the  history  of 
redemption,  must  he  not  of  necessity  view  that  fact  in  its  bearings 
upon  all  cognate  facts  ?     Say  that  the  incident  before  him  is  the 
Baptism  of  Jesus,  can  he  help  asking  himself  what  authority 
John  had  to  baptize,  what  relation  that  baptism  of  repentance 
bore  to  the  kindred  rite  of  circumcision,  why  the  Lord  humiliated 


78  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

Himself  so  far  as  to  seek  such  a  "  carnal  ordinance ''  at  tlie  hands 
of  His  forerunner ;  what  the  dove  was,  whether  the  divine  nature 
of  the  Sou,  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  a  mere  emblem ;  what  was  the 
result  of  the  rite  with  its  accompanying  incidents,  whether  the 
man  Jesus  then  became  divine,  whether  He  was  united  then  with 
the  God  Christ,  or  whether  there  ensued  merely  an  influx  of 
heavenly  grace  upon  one  who  previously  was  incarnate  God; 
what  was  the  significance  of  the  voice  from  heaven  ;  what  was  the 
mode  of  administering  the  rite ;  did  Jesus  then  become  known  to 
John  as  the  Messiah?  Some  of  these  questions  very  likely  would 
not  readily  suggest  themselves  to  a  devout  mind ;  but  many  of 
them  unquestionably  would  occur  to  any  inquiring  intellect,  and 
refuse  to  retire  until  they  had  received  respectful  attention;  which 
scrutiny  and  study  would  open  many  an  avenue  of  investigation 
into  other  truths,  facts,  and  principles.  In  the  light  of  these  con- 
siderations, the  platform  of  opposition  to  systematic  theology  &eems 
a  very  strange  one  to  occupy. 

If  any  reader  is  not  yet  convinced  of  the  importance, — of  the 
absolute  necessity, — of  having  defined  doctrines,  let  him  put  him- 
self in  the  place  of  the  teacher,  and  imagine  himself  trying  to 
impart  to  heathen  people,  or  to  the  children  of  the  Church,  a  com- 
petent knowledge  of  Christianity,  and  forbidden  all  the  time  to 
employ  that  methodical  arrangement  without  which  no  one  is 
supposed  to  attempt  the  instniction  of  even  pupils  in  the  primary 
class.  He  is  permitted  to  teach  facts,  but  must  not  explain  those 
facts;  or  if  he  does  embark  upon  an  occasional  explanation,  must 
not  go  outside  of  Scripture :  he  is  permitted  to  teach  that  Christ 
died  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  but  may  not,  upon  pain  of  con- 
demnation, remind  his  class  that  the  Saviour  was  both  God  and 
man, — man  that  He  might  die,  God  that  His  death  might  be  of 
infinite  worth  ;  for  this  is  to  dogmatize.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how 
the  public  or  private  instruction  of  catechumens  and  communi- 
cants ever  could  have  been  conducted  without  something  ap- 
proaching a  systematizing  of  what  was  to  be  taught. 

The  most  violent  opposition  to  dogmatic  theology,  at  the  present 
day,  comes  from  the  ranks  of  those  who  are  sworn  opponents  of 
Christianity  itself.  It  is  too  evident  to  need  more  than  the  bare 
statement  that  by  leaving  truth  undefined  you  make  way  for  the 
encroachments  of  error.  While  any  given  doctrine  of  the  faith  is 
left  vague,  it  is  easy  for  those  who  wish  its  overthrow  to  pretend 


THEORY  OF  GENERAL  COUNCILS.  79 

that  their  perverse  rendering  of  that  doctrine  is  the  true  one;  but 
as  soon  as  a  clear,  well-rounded  logical  formula  has  been  imposed 
upon  the  doctrine,  the  most  illiterate  can  generally  see  that  the 
fictitious  teacliing  is  not  the  true  one.     A  very  numerous  class  of 
persons,  particularly  among  the  devotees  of  science,  men  who,  it  is 
to  be  feared,  have  not  taught  themselves  a  proper  deference  for  the 
manifested  will  of  the  Most  High,  is  to  be  found  willing  enouo-h 
to  patronize  Christianity  provided  they  can  remodel  it  to  suit  their 
own  fancies.     If  they  are  only  permitted  to  dethrone  Jehovah  and 
elevate  into  His  seat  an  imj^ersonal,  unfeeling,  indifferent,  blind 
Cause  ;  to  take  away  our  Lord  Christ  and  give  us  in  His  stead  an 
amiable,  effeminate,  not  overtruthful  man ;  to  remove  from  our 
midst  the  Holy  Spirit  and  plant  in  His  room  a  sort  of  pythonic 
inspiration ;  if  they  could  only  be  courteously  suffered  to  forget 
the  Incaniation,  the  Atonement,  the  Resurrection,  the  Ascension, 
and  final  Judgment ;  if  they  might  only  laugh  at  the  Church  of 
God  as  an  effete  institution  of  the  Dark  Ages,  and  substitute  for 
the  sacraments  of  God's  appointment  such  devices  as  may  happen 
to  please  their  ungodly  pride;  these  persons  will  gladly  call  them- 
selves by  the  name  of  Him  who  died  to  redeem  them  from  the  ter- 
rible   and  eternal  penalties  consequent  upon  their  vicious   and 
froward  courses.     Doubtless  such  persons  are  bitter  enemies  of 
definite  teaching.     Others,  shocked  by  the  spectacles  which  Chris- 
tians have  often  made  of  themselves  in  the  quarrels  and  wars 
which  have  grown  out  of  disputes  about  religion,  and  oblivious  of 
the  fact  that  everything  worth  possessing  must  often  be  the  sub- 
ject of  contention,  and  that  contention  is  very  liable  to  degenerate 
into  unseemly  strife,  think  that  all  this  unpleasantness  would  be 
avoided  by  destroying  dogma.     These  surely  have  not  computed 
the  cost.     It  is  likely  enough  that  the  bickerings  about  matters  of 
belief  would  be  terminated  by  the  application  of  such  a  remedy, 
but  about  in  the  same  way  that  the  cholera  in  a  human  patient 
would  be  destroyed  by  administering  a  strong  dose  of  prussic  acid. 
Others  again,  not  endowed  by  nature  with  superabundance  of 
mental  energy  and  deficient  perhaps  in  actual  power  of  brain,  per- 
plexed by  the  intricacy,  multiplicity,  and  profundity  of  the  prob- 
lems which  entangle  them  whenever  their  feet  tread  the  arduous 
paths  of  theological  learning,  heartily  wish  that  these  difiiculties 
were  all  removed,  and  are  apt  to  exclaim  that  they  must  have 
been  put  in  the  way  by  the  Evil  One.     It  might  not  be  amiss  to 


80  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

remind  such  objectors  that  divine  Providence  did  not  intend  that 
men  should  win  the  crown  of  life,  or  indeed  any  other  reward 
down  to  the  laurel  wreath,  without  shaking  off  indolence,  and 
putting  forth  whatever  strength,  and  employing  whatever  skill, 
may  be  at  command.  The  largest  class  of  all,  possibly,  inherits  the 
prejudice  against  dogmas  from  those  who  have  gone  before,  and 
only  needs  to  be  aroused  to  thought,  in  order  to  be  convinced  that 
these  are  a  necessity  to  any  religion  that  does  not  mean  to  be 
driven  to  the  wall  by  the  leagued  forces  of  ungodliness,  infidelity, 
and  headstrong  inquiry. 

AVhen  it  has  been  thoroughly  sifted,  much  of  the  opposition  to 
doctrinal  or  dogmatic  religion  will  be  resolved  into  an  animosity, 
not  against  doctrines  and  dogmas  in  themselves,  but  against  the 
arbitrary  and  arrogant  way  in  which  they  have  sometimes  been 
imposed  upon  the  faithful.  If  an  authority  usurps  prerogatives 
which  do  not  belong  to  it,  or  exerts  those  which  it  docs  possess 
tyrannically,  the  natural  consequence  is  that  by  so  doing  it  preju- 
dices even  a  good  cause.  AVhere  then  resides  the  power  of  estab- 
lishing dogma?  To  exercise  this  authority  properly  will  be 
required  scarcely  less  knowledge,  prudence,  and  skill  than  to 
reveal  a  new  religion.  To  define  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation, 
or  to  reconcile  Faith  and  Works,  fully,  accurately,  and  authorita- 
tively, is  a  task  to  which  the  unaided  human  intellect  is  just  as 
incompetent  as  to  discover  the  doctrines  themselves  in  the  first 
instance;  upon  the  principle  that  it  is  as  impossible  for  an  aero- 
naut to  steer  his  balloon  as  far  as  our  satellite,  which  is  only  a  few 
thousand  miles  off,  as  to  anchor  it  among  the  boulders  which  may 
be  supposed  to  lay  strewn  upon  the  frozen  surface  of  Neptune:  he 
is  utterly  and  absolutely  unable  to  do  either.  This  is  equally  true 
of  the  isolated  divine  and  of  the  assembled  conclave:  all  conclu- 
sions, opinions,  beliefs,  affirmations  of  the  individual  or  of  the  mul- 
titude partake  of  human  imperfection,  consequently  may  be  erro- 
neous, and  therefore  cannot  bind  any  one's  conscience.  It  cannot 
really  alter  this  undeniable  truth  that  the  person  or  persons  in 
question  are  unusually  and  indisputably  honest,  pious,  humble, 
intelligent,  learned,  and  judicious  ;  for  at  best,  or  worst,  they  are 
men,  and  no  more  than  men,  and  as  men  are  extremely  liable  to 
be  mistaken.  Of  course,  much  deference  would  be  due  to  the 
deliberate  decisions  of  a  large  body  of  sober  theologians.  Still, 
every  one  would  have  a  right  to  go  behind  the  record  and  exam- 


THEORY  OF  GENERAL   COUNCILS.  81 

ine  into  the  arguments  and  evidence  for  himself,  and  to  difler  to 
any  extent  from  the  conclusions  reached,  if  his  own  mind  led  him 
to  do  so.  Whatever  weight  might  be  attributed  to  the  determina- 
tions of  learned  Christian  scholars  backed  by  the  approbation  of 
the  masses,  and  however  successful  these  might  be  in  keeping  the 
wheels  of  the  Church  in  the  right  grooves,  no  blame  would  attach 
to  the  independent  thinker  who  permitted  himself  to  prefer  his 
own  deductions  to  theirs. 

The  analogy  of  the  divine  economy  would  seem  to  demand 
something  beyond  the  degrees  of  certainty  and  authoritativeness 
that  could  be  attained  in  any  such  way.  The  original  revelation 
was  conveyed  to  us  with  such  overwhelmingness  of  testimony  that 
doubtfulness  or  even  hesitation  is  put  almost  out  of  the  question, 
except  for  such  as  are  wholly  uninformed  as  to  the  facts  or  will- 
fully blind  against  their  admission ;  furthermore,  it  goes  abroad 
into  the  world  with  this  sanction,  Believe  and  ye  shall  be  saved; 
disbeheve  and  ye  shall  be  condemned.  Having  taken  all  con- 
ceivable pains  to  convince  the  world,  through  prophecy,  miracle, 
and  transcendent  holiness  of  life,  that  He  was  indeed  the  Son  of 
God  and  His  message  unalterable  truth,  and  then  having  made  the 
acceptance  of  His  teachings  obligatory  upon  all  that  should  know 
of  them,  is  it  in  accordance  with  the  harmoniousness  of  plan 
always  discernible  in  the  dealings  of  God  with  us,  that  He  should 
not  have  provided  some  method  by  which  the  doubts  and  dis- 
cussions which  were  sure  to  arise  should  be  settled,  with  some 
degree  of  divine  support  to  uphold  the  settlement?  Without  some 
such  method  of  divine  adjustment  of  controversies  we  cannot  but 
think  that  the  Christian  Church  would  be  less  fortunate  than  the 
Jewish  was  with  its  Urim  and  Thummin,  its  Spirit  of  Prophecy, 
and  all  its  various  facilities  for  consulting  the  true  oracle ;  and 
that  we  of  the  present  generation  are  in  a  far  less  happy  condition 
than  were  those  favored  ones,  who  lived  near  enough  the  time  of 
our  Saviour  to  have  some  assurance,  upon  which  they  could  rely, 
that  He  was  indeed  coeternal  and  consubstantial  with  His  Father 
— something  better  than  their  own  logical  (or  illogical)  deductions 
upon  most  complicated  points  from  texts  of  Scripture,  which  are 
at  least  so  far  contradictory  that  they  present  opposite  sides  of  a 
mystery  far  above  the  reach  of  human  comprehension. 

At  the  removal  of  the  Master  from  earth,  the  function  of  guid- 
ing into  all  truth  devolved  upon  that  Holy  Spirit,  whom  He  dis- 


32  THE  CnURCH  AND   THE  FAITH 

patched  thitherward  for  that  express  purpose.     Xo  Trinitarian 
Christian  of  course  can  doubt  for  an  instant  the  thorough  com- 
petence of  Christ's  Yicar  to  explain,  formulate,  and  defend   the 
Revelation  which,  while  given  by  Christ,  was  just  as  familiar  to 
the  mind  of  Him  who  searcheth  the  deep  things  of  God.     Indeed 
He  could,  had  that  comported  with  the  divine  scheme,  have  con- 
tinued the  work  of  positive  teaching,  and  unfolded  to  us  many  a 
secret  which  has  wisely  been  left  wrapped  in  darkness.     That  the 
Spirit  has  executed  this  office  is  denied  by  few  who  even  pretend 
to  be  believers.     That  He,  in  some  M-ay  and  to  some  extent,  acted 
upon  the  minds  of  those  who  composed  the  various  books  of  the 
Xew  Testament  and  of  the  original  preacliers  of  the  Gospel,  is 
universally    admitted.      That    He    continues    to    enlighten    the 
searcher  after  truth,  whether  already  committed  to  obedience  or 
only  groping  after  the  door,  is,  if  possible,  still  more  generally 
allowed.     But  that  the  same  Omnipotent  Holy  Ghost  in  any  way 
acts  upon  the  corporate  body  of  the  Church,  is  most  unaccountably 
rejected  by  large  numbers  as  a  figment  of  a  diseased  brain.     Why 
does  this  objection  exist  and  find  so  much  prevalence?     Is  it  based 
upon  a  supposed  impossibility  of  sucli  corporate  action  ?     Do  the 
rejecters  see  no  way  in  whicli  the  influence  of  divine  grace  can 
permeate  a  great  corporation,  and  control  its  action  at  least  in 
respect  of  restraint  ?     Is  it  impossible  that  the  Spirit  of  God  should 
vivify  the  whole  Body  of  which  Christ  is  the  head,  or  that  vivify- 
ing it  He  should  find  a  way  of  manifesting  Himself  or  of  declaring 
His  mind  ?     No  such  impossibility  exists,  nor  is  the  idea  of  its 
existence  to  be  for  one  moment  entertained.     If  Christ  promised 
to  send  His  Spii-it  to  do  this  precise  Avork,  we  may  be  sure  that 
He  accomplished  His  design,  and  our  business  is  not  to  discuss 
practicabilities,  but  to  search  reverently  for  the  true  method  of 
ascertaining  the  mind  of  Christ  as  revealed  by  the  Spirit, 

We  need  not  quarry  stone  for  a  foundation  already  laid.  In 
a  former  chapter  we  saw  that  the  Spirit  resides,  not  in  the  episco- 
pate, nor  in  the  priesthood,  nor  in  the  ministry  exclusively,  but 
in  the  entire  organization.  Unless,  then,  some  portion  of  the 
body  has  been  explicitly  shut  off  from  participation  in  this  great 
work  of  establishing  and  maintaining  the  faith,  every  member  is 
entitled  to  share  therein.  ISTow,  so  far  from  any  exclusion  having 
been  made,  we  have  apostolic  warrant  for  admitting  the  laity  into 
the  highest  counsels  of  the  Church.     We  cannot,  perhaps,  dem- 


TnEORY  OF  GENERAL   COUNCILS.  83 

onstrate  that  the  ^''Brethren''''  took  an j  part  in  the  deliberations 
of  the  great  council  at  Jerusalem  which  assembled  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  first  century,  nor  even  that  the  circular  letter  was 
issued  in  their  names,  since  some  manuscripts  put  the  word 
"  Bretlimn "  in  apposition  with  "  The  apostles  and  elders,''^  but 
we  can  show  that  "  The  Church,"  as  something  distinct  from 
"  The  apostles  and  elders,"  received  Paul  and  Barnabas  upon 
their  arrival  at  Jerusalem ;  that  "  The  multitude  kept  silence  and 
gave  audience  to  Barnabas  and  Paul ; "  and  that  it  pleased  "  The 
apostles  and  elders  luith  the  whole  Ckurch  to  send  chosen  men 
*  *  *  and  wrote  letters  by  them  after  this  manner;"  from 
all  which  it  appears  that  the  brethren  in  Jerusalem  did  have  some 
share  in  the  deliberations  of  that  first  council,  not  only  being 
present  to  listen  and  lend  dignity  to  the  occasion,  closed  doors 
not  tlien  being  the  order  of  the  day,  but  actually  bearing  some  of 
the  responsibility  of  its  action.  And  yet  that,  of  all  assemblies, 
might  be  thought  the  one  least  likely  to  call  in  the  assistance  of 
the  laity,  enjoying,  as  it  did,  the  presence  of  so  many  especially 
empowered  to  guide  the  infant  Church  and  called  by  us  inspired 
men.  Inspired  they  were,  and  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  a  de- 
cision so  deliberately  reached  by  them,  and  so  solemnly  promul- 
gated, as  having  the  sanction  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  extraor- 
dinary words,  "  It  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to  us," 
would  be  to  cut  the  ground  entirely  from  under  our  feet  as  Chris- 
tians. Nevertheless,  these  Apostles  did  not  see  fit  to  rely  exclu- 
sively upon  their  own  knowledge  and  wisdom,  but  unquestionably 
admitted  the  presbyters  or  elders  to  cooperation.  Perhaps  they 
judged  that  thus  their  decision  would  carry  more  weight  and  meet 
with  less  opposition.  Perhaps,  in  order  that  the  council  might  be  a 
model  for  future  generations,  the  Blessed  Spirit,  until  the  opinions 
of  the  presbyters  had  been  asked  and  obtained,  withheld  from  the 
Apostles  who  were  there,  both  individually  and  collectively,  the 
kind  of  inspiration  with  which  at  other  times  He  favored  them. 
At  all  events  they  did  pursue  the  course  indicated  above,  and  with 
equal  certainty  they  extended  the  liberty  of  cooperation  to  many 
that  were  not  in  the  ranks  of  the  ministry  at  all,  and  therefore, 
actually  or  constructively,  to  the  whole  body  of  the  Church  at 
Jerusalem.  K'ow,  if  the  brethren  were  consulted  in  the  Holy 
City,  upon  what  ground  would  "  The  brethren,  whicli  are  of 
the  Gentiles  in  Antioch,  and  Syria,  and  Cilicia,"  be  excluded  ? 


84  TEE  CEUBCH  AND  TEE  FAITE. 

Are  thej  thus  shut  out  ?  If  so,  is  it  not  for  a  reason  which  never 
occurred  again,  namely,  because  of  the  presence  of  the  Apostles 
in  this  one  synod  alone?  Then,  since  the  principle  of  allowing 
laymen  a  share  in  legislation  is  admitted  at  this  council,  and  ftiir- 
ness  requires  that  all  laymen  should  be  consulted  if  any  are,  and 
the  one  reason  for  excluding  any  did  not  arise  again,  does  it  not 
follow  that  a  circular  letter,  issued  by  any  second  council  claiming 
to  be  oecumenical,  should  be  consciously  addressed  to  men  who 
can  reject  as  well  as  accept,  who  have  been  taught  to  prove  all 
things  with  a  view  to  holding  fast  that  which  is  good?  And  how 
stands  it  Mith  the  letter  set  forth  by  this  very  apostolic  assembly? 
Does  it  not  lay  the  "  Necessary  burden  "  as  upon  shoulders  that 
have  the  right  to  shake  it  off?  That  it  goes  forth  in  the  name  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  may  not  involve  a  denial  of  the  right  of  those  to 
whom  it  comes  to  pronounce  upon  the  correctness  of  that  high 
claim.  There  is  one  hypothesis  which  explains  all  the  facts  in 
the  case:  Mhether  any  other  does  the  same  as  satisfactorily,  or 
more  so,  each  must  decide  for  himself.  Tlie  two  higher  orders  of 
the  ministry  debate  the  subject  at  length,  the  Apostles,  as  was  fit- 
ting, taking  the  most  prominent  part ;  and  a  decree  is  at  last  reached 
which  is  couched  in  mandatory  language,  not,  however,  because 
the  decision  is  yet  binding  upon  the  Church,  but  in  anticipation 
of  the  time  when,  by  unanimous  consent,  it  will  become  so.  We 
have  a  parallel  to  this  in  the  case  of  St.  James,  who  closes  his 
speech  with  the  words,  "  Wherefore  my  sentence  is,"  etc.,  not, 
we  may  presume,  signifying  by  that  expression  that  he  meant  to 
force  his  own  opinion  upon  the  whole  assembly,  but  rather,  as 
president  of  the  council,  summing  up  the  remarks  of  those  who 
had  spoken  in  this  one  proposition,  which  he  offers  for  adoption. 
After  the  same  manner,  the  council  itself  sends  forth  a  paper 
which  is  decided  and  authoritative  in  form,  and  yet  is  submitted 
to  the  judgment  of  the  churches  for  their  approval  in  order  that 
it  may  become  law.  In  opposition  to  this  explanation,  it  may  be 
held  that  the  decree  when  passed  by  the  synod  was  binding  and 
final.  Upon  what  theory,  however,  shall  we  rest  such  a  solution 
of  the  question  ?  Xot  surely  upon  episcopal  prerogative,  for  if 
the  Apostles  as  bishops  were  sufficient  in  themselves,  why  were 
the  elders  consulted?  Shall  we  base  it  upon  the  general  posses- 
sion of  divine  direction  by  the  jjriesthood  alone?  What,  then, 
becomes  of  deacons  who,  like  St.  Stephen,  were  full  of  grace  and 


THEORY  OF  GENERAL   COUNCILS.  85 

power,  or,  like  St.  Philip,  were  even  subject  to  the  corporal  action 
of  the  Spirit  ?  What,  moreover,  becomes  of  St.  Jnde's  declaration 
that  the  faith  was  once  delivered  into  the  custody  of  the  "  saints''''  ? 
Furthermore,  if  the  common  people  had  such  free  scope  in  electing 
their  bishops  that  they  could  seize  upon  an  Italian  lawyer  and  have 
him  advanced  immediately  to  the  episcopal  throne  of  Milan,  the 
clergy  were  in  some  sense  at  least  representatives  of  the  laity ;  and 
the  same  view  of  laic  rights  which  conceded  this  elective  franchise 
would  also  recognize  the  justice  of  a  claim  to  a  voice  in  pronounc- 
ing upon  the  doctrines  which  all  were  to  believe  under  penalty  of 
excommunication.  It  is  time  to  close  a  superfluous  and  superog- 
atory  work.  We  are  carrying  a  burden  of  proof  which  properly 
belongs  to  the  other  side.  Wlien  once  it  has  been  agreed  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  communicates  His  gifts  alike,  though  in  different 
measure,  to  Cornelius  and  to  Peter,  to  the  three  thousand  and  to 
the  Twelve,  very  clear  evidence  ought  to  be  exacted  before  we 
consent  to  deprive  any  Christian,  however  lowly  in  station,  of 
the  prerogative  of  bearing  witness  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus ;  and 
until  that  clear  proof  is  forthcoming  we  need  concern  ourselves  no 
more  about  the  matter. 

What  is  to  be  sought  in  order  to  ascertain  the  truth  in  all 
matters  of  religious  controversy,  if  our  theory  be  correct,  is  the 
testimony  of  the  entire  Church,  not  omitting  the  humblest  mem- 
ber of  it ;  and  the  problem  therefore  is  how  to  obtain  the  desired 
witness,  since  it  is  impossible  to  convene  all  Christians  in  one 
great  mass-meeting  for  the  purpose  of  voting  upon  the  question 
under  discussion.  The  only  resource  then  is  to  refer  the  matter, 
by  circular  letter  or  otherwise,  to  tlie  various  provinces  and 
dioceses,  to  be  adjudicated  by  them  separately.  The  object  in 
view  will  be  secured  in  this  way  just  as  surely  as  though  the  grand 
conclave  could  be  held,  and  with  the  avoidance  of  many  embar- 
rassments that  would  attend  upon  such  an  unwieldy  gathering. 

The  initiative  in  such  movements  belongs  of  right  to  the 
officers  of  the  kingdom.  When  God's  Church  meets  in  solemn 
assembly  to  deliberate  upon  points  of  doctrine,  discipline,  and 
worship,  who  will  so  naturally  take  the  lead  in  the  discussions  as 
those  who  have  given  their  whole  lives,  and  consecrated  all  their 
powers,  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and  liave  been  so  distinguished 
by  their  learning,  ability,  administrative  capacity,  and  piety  as  to 
have  been  thought  worthy  of  obtaining  the  honor  of  the  episco- 


86  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

pate  ?  It  is  not  in  the  nature  of  things  that  ordinary  laymen 
should  be  experts  in  theology.  Occasionally  the  wonderful  genius 
of  some  intellectual  prodigy  will  constitute  him  king  in  all  depart- 
ments of  learning;  but  in  the  vast  majority  of  instances  a  suitor 
will  do  well  to  engage  a  lawyer,  a  diseased  person  to  employ  the 
skill  of  a  medical  man,  and  a  sinner  or  a  doubter  to  call  in  the 
assistance  of  a  professed  theologian.  Divinity  may  be  more  or  less 
every  man's  study,  as  it  certainly  concerns  every  man  very  nearly  to 
have  some  knowledge  of  it;  yet  the  thorough  masteiy  of  it  demands 
the  lifelong,  assiduous  application  of  the  most  powerful  intellect. 

"While  hardly  any  one  would  be  likely  to  advocate  the  exclusion 
of  bishops  and.  priests  from  church  councils,  it  is  a  moot  point 
whether  the  laity  should  have  a  voice  and  a  vote  in  their  deliber- 
ations or  not.  There  was  no  such  representation  of  the  laity  in 
the  early  councils  as  we  now  have,  for  example,  in  the  General 
Convention  of  the  American  Church ;  but  this  ditference  may 
perhaps  have  been  due  to  the  character  of  the  times,  and  princi- 
pally to  the  extinguishment  of  those  democratic  ideas  which  had 
played  such  a  prominent  part  in  the  earlier  history  of  Rome. 
jSTor,  it  may  be,  were  the  common  people  sufficiently  educated  to 
take  an  intelligent  share  in  theological  argumentations.  The 
whole  question  is  one  of  expediency,  for,  provided  the  decision  of 
a  council  is  iinally  ratified  by  the  lait}',  it  is  their  voice  equally  as 
if  they  had  had  a  share  in  its  original  passage.  Viewing  it  in  this 
light,  we  may  be  allowed  to  think  that  with  the  prevalence  of  the 
idea  of  popular  sovereignty,  and  with  the  wide  diffusion  of  edu- 
cation and  intelligence,  has  come  upon  Christendom  a  certain 
demand  for  the  admission  of  the  laity  to  a  distinct  participation 
in  the  legislative  and  judicial  management  of  its  affairs. 

Honoring  the  ministry  ever  so  highly,  we  must  be  excused  for 
saying  that  it  is  after  all  a  caste.  Isolated  from  mankind,  possess- 
ing interests  of  its  own  more  or  less  conflicting  with  the  common 
interests  of  the  world,  looking  down  from  an  exalted  standpoint 
upon  the  struggles  of  the  brethren  wlio  are  obliged  to  come  in 
daily  contact  with  the  contaminations  of  evil,  given  up  largely  to 
contemplation  of  the  tremendous  realities  of  another  life,  it  is 
almost  inevitable  that  the  ecclesiastic  should,  to  a  degree,  forget 
that  he  is  a  man,  and  come  to  take  a  distorted  view  of  a  world, 
and  a  theology,  and  a  providence,  which  were  intended  not  for 
ecclesiastics  but  for  men.     This  is  only  making  a  particular  appli- 


THEOBT  OF  GENERAL  COUNCILS.  87 

catiou  of  the  general  rule,  that  everjman  is  the  victim  of  a  strong 
tendency  towards  sinking  his  manhood  in  his  trade  or  his  pro- 
fession. Which  being  acknowledged,  we  are  ready  to  recognize 
one  decided  advantage  likely  to  accrue  from  engrafting  upon  our 
ecclesiastical  synods  a  non-professional  element,  which  will  regard 
everything  from  the  common  ground  of  universal  manhood,  and 
sometimes  exercise  a  most  wholesome  influence  in  brino-incr  back 
to  earth  imaginations  too  prone  to  soar  away  into  the  illimitable 
void,  point  out  obstacles  overlooked  by  a  gaze  perpetually  directed 
skywards,  and  even  perhaps  find  it  necessary  to  insist  somewhat 
strenuously  upon  moral  obligations  that  have  been  forgotten  by  a 
religiousness  sublimated  to  the  height  of  fanaticism.  Let  us  ask 
ourselves  whether  our  laws  would  receive  any  increment  of  sound- 
ness from  being  devised  by  a  legislature  wholly  composed  of  law- 
yers. Such  a  law-making  body  would  doubtless  shun  the  incon- 
sistencies which  mar  our  statute-books,  and  give  us  a  severely 
logical  system  of  enactments,  like  that  marvelous  congeries  of 
estates-tail  and  contingent-remainders  which  is  known  as  the 
English  Common  Law  of  Real  Property ;  but  would  possibly  fail 
to  provide  the  code  best  adapted  to  meet  the  wants  of  every-day 
life. 

In  the  case  of  an  established  church  a  second  consideration 
becomes  prominent  here.  The  persons  most  exposed  to  the  seduc- 
tions of  that  condition,  are  not  those  who  are  hidden  in  the  obscu- 
rity of  private  station,  but  those  whose  eminence  marks  them  out 
as  wielders  of  influence :  these  are  the  ones  to  be  approached  with 
promises,  flatteries,  and  menaces,  and  also  the  ones  to  become  con- 
spicuous for  corruption.  If  the  mighty  ruler  sternly  bids  the 
Church  decide  that  this  doctrine  is  true  or  remove  the  anathema 
from  that  heretic,  the  ones  to  tremble,  the  ones  upon  whose 
unshielded  heads  will  descend  the  full  force  of  a  despot's  wrath, 
are,  first  of  all,  the  bishops.  If  the  World  has  so  far  prevailed  over 
the  Church  that  it  has  grasped  the  control,  that  usurper  will  not 
long  delay  to  force  into  the  highest  places  its  pliant,  unscrupulous, 
and  shameless  tools.  Herein  lies  another  reason  why  the  laity 
should  have  its  voice. 

We  have  held  in  reserve  the  most  potent  reason  of  all.  The 
drift  of  all  things  mundane  is  towards  change :  nothing  has  the 
gift  of  continuance.  The  days,  the  seasons,  the  climate,  the  occu- 
pations of  men,  their  constitutions,  temperaments,  opinions,  all 


88  TUE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

shift  perpetually.  The  Church  must  not  change:  her  faith, 
dependent  upon  a  closed  revelation,  must  remain  stable  or 
become  erroneous.  This  can  be  effected  only  by  the  intervention 
of  deity,  but  God  always  chooses  to  employ  instrumentalities  as 
far  as  possible.  Strange  to  say,  the  clergy,  as  a  class,  are  more 
prompt  to  close  with  any  new  theory  or  view  of  religious  belief 
than  the  flocks  over  which  they  preside.  In  every  age  certain 
portions  of  the  faith  will  attain  undue  prominence  in  the  estima- 
tion of  mankind,  if  for  no  other  reason,  because  tliey  happen  to  be 
most  vehemently  contradicted  :  there  will,  therefore,  be  a  decided, 
and  perceptible,  and  dangerous  current  setting  towards  the  shoals, 
rocks,  and  cataracts  of  one  deadly  error  or  another,  all  extreme 
views  being  necessarily  wrong.  The  clerical  mind,  dwelling  con- 
stantly upon  these  themes,  and  resting  longest  upon  those  which  it 
is  obliged  to  defend  from  attack,  will  be  nnich  more  easily  borne 
along  by  the  stream  than  the  preoccupied  brain  of  laymen  who, 
caring  for  religion  because  it  has  bearings  upon  practical  life  with 
its  struggles,  weaknesses,  perplexities,  and  trials,  rather  than  as  a 
science,  are  very  apt  to  take  those  views  of  the  subject  which  were 
taught  them  in  their  tender  years.  In  short,  the  laity  are  the 
common  sense  of  the  Church,  corresponding  to  that  faculty  of  the 
human  mind  which  is  least  susceptible  of  education,  which  is  more 
than  any  other  the  resultant  of  the  mental  modifications  of  ances- 
tors, the  sum  of  inherited  tendencies,  the  great  balance-wheel  of 
the  system,  which  can  so  safely  be  trusted  to  reach  conclusions 
that  will  at  least  not  shame  us  in  the  carrying  of  them  out. 

An  organization  which  is  above  all  things  co)}servative,  cannot 
afford  to  neglect  the  very  principle  of  conservatism.  It  is  com- 
paratively unimportant  that  it  should  summon  the  conservative 
laity  to  its  legislative  gathering,  but  it  must  in  justice  to  itself 
consign  to  them  at  least  the  right  of  veto,  the  power  of  checking 
the  too  hasty  progress  of  the  ministry  by  saying,  This  we  have  not 
learned  from  our  fathers ;  this  is  not  the  tradition  of  our  Church : 
there  must  be  something  wrong  somewhere.  In  accordance  with 
this  rule  it  is  manifest  that  no  council  can  be  pronounced  (Ecu- 
me7iieal,or  Geneml,heforehand,  for  no  matter  how  numerous  and 
respectable  may  be  the  attendance  upon  it,  its  decisions  are  not 
the  voice  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  through  the  Church,  till  they  have 
been  sent  down  to  the  various  national  churches  and  ratified  by 
them.     And,  as  matter  of  fact,  all  those  councils  which  have  been 


THEORY  OF  GENERAL  COUNCILS.  89 

recognized  as  (Ecumenical,  have  been  so  upon  this  precise  ground ; 
not,  of  course,  that  there  was  always  (if  indeed  ever)  a  formal  refer- 
ence and  a  foiinal  ratification,  but  that  their  CEcumenicitj  always 
remained  in  abeyance  until  (as  we  would  say)  the  respective  con- 
stituencies had  been  heard  from.  As  every  eye  was  upon  the 
assembly,  its  decrees  would  be  eagerly  watched  for  and  closely 
studied ;  and  if,  in  course  of  time,  no  objections  were  raised,  nor 
remonstrances  uttered,  these  would  be  considered  to  have  been 
tacitly  approved,  and  the  council  come  to  be  regarded  as  General. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  strong  repugnance  should  be  manifested  to 
their  reception,  partisans  here  and  there  would  defend  the  recti- 
tude of  the  decisions,  but  the  Church  as  a  whole  would  be  thouglit 
to  have  pronounced  them  at  last  not  proven.  Thus  iS'icasa  was 
(Ecumenical,  not  on  account  of  its  containing  delegations  from  all 
parts  of  Christendom,  but  because  its  creed  was  approved  by  the 
common  sentiment  of  the  Christian  world;  while  Eimini  has 
come  down  to  us  under  the  title  of  a  simple  council  or  synod,  not 
from  lack  of  bishops  to  grace  its  sessions,  but  by  reason  of  the  final 
rejection  of  its  determinations  by  the  Church  at  large. 

A  wide-spread  opinion  refuses  to  rest  satisfied  with  anything 
less  than  complete  unanimity.  Is  this  opinion  correct,  or  shall 
Ave  content  ourselves  with  the  verdict  of  a  bare  majority,  or  should 
we  look  for  such  a  large  majority  as  to  amount  to  a  practical 
unanimity  ?  "Whatever  weight  of  authority  there  may  be  on  the 
side  of  absolute  unanimity,  we  must  still  be  allowed  the  liberty  of 
examining  into  the  subject.  Why  should  sucli  entire  agreement 
be  required  ?  The  Holy  Ghost  cannot  be  supposed  to  have 
imparted  inerrability  to  all  the  members  of  the  Church,  good  or 
bad ;  nor  in  truth  has  He  ever  bestowed  such  a  gift  upon  any  one 
human  being.  That  the  voice  of  the  Church  is  God's  voice,  surely 
does  not  mean  that  the  utterance  of  every  individual  in  it  is  a 
word  from  on  high !  What  stronger  reason  is  there  for  expecting 
freedom  from  mistake  in  the  diocese  than  in  the  individual? 
Does  a  promise  to  be  with  the  whole  Church  always  imply  a 
pledge  to  each  integral  portion  thereof  to  preserve  it  from  error  ? 
iNo  more  than  the  assurance  given  to  Hezekiah  that  his  life  would 
be  prolonged  fifteen  years  secured  the  perfect  soundness,  or  even 
the  preservation,  of  each  member  of  his  body.  It  is  very  much  to 
be  feared  that  no  such  unanimity  ever  existed  even  in  the  happiest 
days  of  the  Church.     The  Council  of  Nicsea  was  probably  the 


90  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH: 

most  liarmonious  that  ever  sat,  and  yet  two  bishops  of  the  number 
attending,  Theonas  and  Sccundus,  are  condemned  along  with 
Arius  in  the  letter  of  that  Synod  as  given  in  Socrates'  Ecclesi- 
astical History.  As  a  matter  of  strict  logic  a  bare  majority  must 
be  adjudged  competent  to  decide  or  testify.  Prudence  may 
require  that  nothing  determined  by  less  than  a  very  large  majority 
should  be  insisted  upon  ;  but  it  is  prudence,  and  not  logical 
necessity,  that  places  such  restrictions.  It  is  indeed  well  that  the 
utmost  caution  should  be  used  in  defining  the  faith,  lest  heresy 
should  accidentally  be  admitted  where  it  is  so  easy,  by  a  slight 
inadvertency,  to  change  important  doctrines  in  vital  points,  which 
may  pass  unnoticed  for  many  years  until  some  unusually  acute 
intellect  directs  its  glance  upon  them.  It  is  immeasurably  better 
that  deficiency  should  exist  in  technical  statement  of  the  truth, 
than  that  additions  should  be  made  to  the  sacred  deposit ;  that 
some  should  be  suflered  to  fall  short  of  holding  the  entire  body  of 
doctrine,  than  that  the  Church  Catholic  should  be  committed  to 
positive  falsehood  in  the  smallest  particular.  Therefore,  it  may  be 
well  that  dogmas  should  be  passed  only  by  the  "  unanimous  con- 
sent'" of  the  Church  in  General  Council  and  Provincial  Synod;  but 
by  the  expression  we  may  not,  Mith  any  degree  of  propriety,  mean 
more  than  the  agreement  after  deliberation  of  an  overwhelming 
major  it  tj. 

Is  it  the  business  of  a  council  to  say  what  the  faith  actually  is, 
or  what  in  its  apprehension  that  fiiith  ought  to  be?  Should  it  con- 
fine itself  to  an  examination  of  the  members  present  as  to  what 
lias  always  been  taught  in  their  respective  churches,  to  a  thorough 
sifting  of  the  evidence  elicited,  and  to  the  deducing  only  of  mani- 
fest conclusions  therefrom,  or  is  it  to  roam  at  large  through  all 
fields  of  religious  investigation  and  build  up  new  creeds  and  sys- 
tems very  much  as  political  platforms  are  now  erected?  The 
work  of  the  assembly  will  be  more  modest  under  the  former  view 
of  its  duties,  more  brilliant  under  the  latter;  safer  by  far  in  the 
first  instance,  not  unlikely  to  lead  astray  in  the  second ;  arduous 
and  slow  if  its  task  is  to  collate  voluminous  testimony,  easy  and 
rapid  if  there  is  little  more  to  do  than  adopt  the  elaborate  con- 
fession of  some  acknowledged  leader ;  in  strict  conformity  with 
God's  method  in  revealing  His  truth  when  the  aim  is  to  ascertain 
by  distinct  testimony  what  He  has  been  pleased  to  say,  more  in 
accordance  with  the  usual  procedure  of  human  pride  when  the 


THEORY  OF  GENERAL  COUNCILS.  91 

lofty  claim  is  put  forward  of  competence  to  adjust  all  difficulties 
through  a  strenuous  effort  of  the  finite  intellect.  That  the  former 
view  was  that  entertained  by  the  fathers  of  Nice,  is  evident  from 
the  letter  of  Eusebius  Pamphilus  to  his  diocese  as  given  in  the 
twelfth  chapter  of  Theodoret.  We  will  quote  the  passage :  "  The 
following  is  our  formulary,  which  was  read  in  the  presence  of  our 
most  pious  emperor,  and  which  was  fully  approved  by  all :  '  The 
faith  which  we  hold  is  that  which  we  have  received  from  the 
bishops  who  were  before  us,  and  in  the  rudiments  of  which  we 
were  instructed  when  we  were  baptized.  It  is  that  which  we 
learnt  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  which,  when  among  the 
presbytery  as  well  as  when  we  were  placed  in  the  episcopal  office, 
we  have  believed  and  have  taught ;  and  which  we  now  believ^e, 
for  we  still  uphold  our  own  faith.'  "  After  inserting  the  creed, 
the  letter  continues :  '' '  We  positively  affirm  that  we  hold  this 
faith,  that  we  have  always  held  it,  and  that  we  shall  adhere  to  it 
even  unto  death,  condemning  all  ungodly  heresy.  We  testify  as 
before  God  the  Almighty  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  we 
have  believed  in  these  truths  from  the  heart  and  from  the  soul, 
ever  since  we  have  been  capable  of  reflection  ;  and  we  have  the 
means  of  showing,  and,  indeed,  of  convincing  you,  that  we  have 
always  during  all  periods  believed  and  preached  them.' "  Day- 
light is  scarcely  clearer  than  are  these  extracts  in  demonstrating 
that  those  godly  bishops  felt  themselves  tightly  tied  down  in  all 
their  teachings  to  the  faith  they  had  been  taught  by  their  pred- 
ecessors, and  that  they  thought  themselves  bound  to  shun  every 
innovation  as  too  dangerous  to  tamper  with.  Now,  if  all  the 
bishops  of  the  Nicene  epoch  held  themselves  thus  restricted,  it  is 
not  to  be  doubted  that  all  of  the  preceding  ages  had  submitted 
gladly  to  the  same  restraint,  and  consequently  that  what  the 
fathers  testified  to  in  the  year  325,  was  the  identical  doctrine  that 
had  been  confided  to  the  Apostles  and  brethren.  It  may  be 
simple  enough  to  ridicule  the  tame  credulity  of  these  holy  men, 
but  let  the  rash  being  who  is  about  to  join  in  the  laugh  against 
them,  repress  the  inclination  till  he  has  measured  his  wits  with  those 
of  Athanasius,  the  true  leader  of  that  council,  and  by  contempt  of 
persecution  and  of  deadly  opposition  of  every  kind  displayed  a 
heroism  of  spirit  that  will  justify  him  in  despising  men  who  had 
courage  sufficient  to  brave  everything  in  behalf  of  the  faith  they 
so  loyally  accepted.     He  who  servilely  receives  a  religion  or  a 


92  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

doctrine  becaiise  one  man,  or  ten  thousand,  or  a  hundred  million 
men  believe  it,  or  because  his  father  or  his  remotest  ancestor 
adhered  to  it,  for  such  and  no  stronger  reasons,  and  without 
thorough  examination,  deserves  to  be  despised  as  a  slave ;  but  the 
person  who  attaches  importance  to  the  confluence  of  a  thousand 
diflPerent  streams  of  testimony  after  the  lapse  of  centuries,  and  is 
confident  that  what  a  thousand  dioceses  maintain  as  the  belief 
originally  taught  them,  and  those  dioceses  scattered  all  over  the 
world,  nor  some  of  them  enjoying  very  close  intercourse  with  those 
neighboring,  must  be  the  very  teaching  of  Christ,  he  merely  acts 
as  a  rational  man  should  in  not  contemning  human  testimony  as 
utterly  worthless. 

While,  however,  these  reverend  and  able  men  showed  them- 
selves mindful  of  the  nature  of  the  trust  which  was  conveyed  in 
those  words :  "  Ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me,  both  in  Jerusalem 
and  in  all  Judaea,  and  in  Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth,"'  they  did  not  abdicate  any  of  the  functions  of  intelli- 
gent beings,  nor  bear  witness  like  automata  that  were  only  able 
to  repeat  certain  forms  of  words.  They  did  not  hesitate  to  call 
into  play  all  the  nobler  faculties  of  mind,  but  exercised  a  liberty 
of  putting  different  truths  or  parts  of  truths  together,  and  draw- 
ing from  them  such  conclusions  as  the  laws  of  thought  justified. 
This  was  plainly  a  necessity  of  the  case,  since  a  new  heresy  must 
be  encountered  with  a  new  statement  of  the  truth  denied.  Upon 
Arius's  asserting  that  the  Father  and  the  Son  were  not  equally 
God,  it  became  necessary  to  introduce  the  new  term  Jlomooasion, 
or  Cotisiibstantial,  into  the  Creed.  The  emergency  could  not  be 
met  by  the  ancient  formulary,  because  the  heresiarch  was  willing 
to  recite  that,  being  able  to  explain  its  language  in  accordance 
with  his  own  theory.  The  old  Creed  did  not,  it  is  true,  favor 
Arianism  directly  in  the  slightest  degree,  but  might  be  said  to 
countenance  it  indirectly  by  silence  on  the  disputed  points,  so 
that  the  Church  could  hardly  have  been  free  from  the  guilt  of 
culpable  reticence  had  it  not  enlarged  the  time-honored  symbol. 
In  contending  with  heresy  two  processes  of  witnessing  would  be 
employed.  In  the  first  place,  having  carefully  ascertained  the 
exact  position  of  the  new  teachers,  the  examiners  v/ould  be 
obliged  to  pronounce  respecting  that  position,  whether  it  coin- 
cided with  that  of  the  Catholic  Church  or  not.  Having  assured 
themselves  that  the  tenets  were  incorrect,  they  must,  in  the  second 


THEORY  OF  GENERAL  COUNCILS.  93 

place,  cast  about  for  a  proposition  wbicli  would  safely  enshrine  the 
couuter-truth.  Some  proposition  would  presently  meet  with  gen- 
eral favor :  this  must  then  be  subjected  to  the  crucial  test,  be 
turned  over  on  every  side,  dissected,  exposed  to  the  action  of 
reagents,  and  unrelentingly  cast  out,  unless,  without  the  shadow 
of  a  doubt,  it  appeared  to  harmonize  with  Scripture  and  Tradition, 
first  to  the  assembled  prelates,  and  then  to  that  safer  tribunal,  the 
common  sentiment  of  the  universal  body.  Is  then  Tradition  on 
a  par  with  the  written  record  ?  Does  the  Faith  receive  incre- 
ments from  age  to  age,  and  grow  ?  Have  revelations  from  heaven 
been  vouchsafed  since  the  Apocah'pse  closed  the  volume  of  the 
Book  with  that  awful  warning?  What  has  been  said  to  justity 
these  questions  ?  Tradition  does  not  presume  to  stand  abreast  of 
Scripture,  but  takes  its  humble  station  behind,  and  supports  it ; 
the  Faith  does  not  expand  in  bulk,  but  only  loses  a  little  of  its 
flexibility  as  it  hardens  into  the  superior  robustness  of  advancing 
age ;  and  no  fresh  revelation  has  been  made,  unless  the  defending 
and  explaining  of  the  old  may  be,  improperly,  so  considered.  A  cer- 
tain development  has  unquestionably  been  taking  place  all  these 
ages,  but  not  one  in  any  respect  hostile  to  the  celebrated  rule 
of  Vincent  of  Lerins,  "  What  always,  everywhere,  and  by  a  1 
has  been  believed  that  is  to  be  held  as  the  Catholic  doctrine." 
There  has  been  all  along  one  unchanging,  comprehensive,  Catholic 
doctrine ;  but  that  doctrine  has  gradually  developed  outwardly 
into  clearer,  more  logical,  more  systematic  statement  and  arrange- 
inent.  The  church  of  the  catacombs  believed  the  Son  to  be 
Consiibstantial  with  the  Father  as  firmly  as  did  the  church  of 
remodeled  basilicas,  but  was  not  quite  so  conscious  of  that  fact. 
The  knowledge  was  in  some  sense  latent,  and  may  not  improperly 
be  compared  to  that  which  a  child  has  of  its  father's  character. 
Ask  the  boy  what  are  the  distinguishing  features  of  the  parental 
character,  and  you  will  be  answered  very  vaguely ;  but  volunteer 
a  wrong  description,  and  note  how  quickly  your  mistakes  will 
photograph  themselves  upon  your  listener's  countenance.  The 
primitive  Christians  believed  in  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son, 
and  God  the  Holy  Ghost  as  all  equally  divine,  and  worshiped 
and  served  them,  all  and  each,  as  the  One,  Only  God ;  but  they 
had  not  thought  out  answers  to  all  the  difficulties  involved  in 
this  belief,  nor  learned  to  say  that  there  are  Three  Persons  in 
One  Godhead.     It  was  not,  we  therefore  see,  for  nothing  that  the 


94  TEE  CHURCH  A2\D   THE  FAITH. 

Holy  Spirit  was  promised  and  sent  to  the  Church  of  God :  He 
became  to  the  great  and  vast  organism  the  principle  of  divine  hfe 
which  marks  it  as  a  living  body,  and  enables  it  to  fulfill  such 
high  and  sacred  functions  as  that  of  defending  the  faith,  and 
formulating  it  as  occasion  requires,  and  handing  down  the  pre- 
cious legacy  untarnished  to  the  latest  generation,  sparkling  and 
flashing  ever  more  beautifully  as  the  attrition  of  error  smites 
away  incrustations,  and  lays  bare  the  true  faces  of  the  diamond. 


CHAPTER    YIII. 

COUNCIL   OF   NIC-SIA. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  cities  of  ancient  times  was  Alex- 
andria.    In  nothing  perhaps  did  the  genius  of  the  Macedonian 
Philip's  greater  son  display  itself  more    strikingly  than  in  the 
choice  of  a  site  for  the  great  commercial  emporinm  which  was 
destined  to  be  a  monument  of  his  fame  long  after  Asia  and  Egypt 
should  have  shaken  oif  the  Grecian  yoke.     Nor  was  the  mairnifi- 
cent  city  less  distinguished  as  the  seat  of  literature,  learning,  and 
philosophy  than  as  a  haven  of  ships  and  a  centre  of  trade.     Specu- 
lative philosophy  was  never  carried  higher  or  deeper  than  in  this 
great  mart  of  ideas.     Here  was  planted  the  first  of  those  great 
schools  of  divinity  which  exercised  such  wide  and  permanent  influ- 
ence upon  Christianity  from  the  second  century  down  to  the  decay 
of  learning.     Founded,  according  to  a  not  very  trustworthy  tradi- 
tion, by  St.  Mark  for  the  instruction  of  catechumens  in  the  princi- 
ples and  mysteries  of  the  faith  into  which  they  were  to  be  baptized, 
and  therefore  called  a  Catechetical  School^  founded  at  all  events  in 
apostolic  times,  it  soon  expanded  in  the  direction  of  that  side  of  it 
which  was  employed  in  training  choice  minds  with  more  thorouo-h- 
ness  than  was  thought  proper  to  be  lavished  upon  mediocre  abili- 
ties, till  it  became  the  foster-mother  of  many  leading  bishops  of 
the  Church.     In  the  latter  part  of  the  second  century  Pantgenus 
appears  as  the  head  of  this  school,  and  raised  it  to  extraordinary 
renown.     Whether,  or  not,  this  rapid  rise  was  partly  due  to  an 
impetus  given  by  the  elegant  apologist,  Athenagoras,  who  may 
have  immediately  preceded  him,  the  upward  movement  was  well 
sustained  during  the  rule  of  the  celebrated  Clemens  Alexandrinus, 
his  pupil  and  successor,  who  had  the  honor  of  educating  the  most 
illustrious  man  that  ever  occupied  the  mastei-'s  chair  in  that  insti- 
tution, Origen,  known  as  the  "  Adamantine."     Origen  had  among 
his  hearers  Firmilianus  of  Cappadocia,  that  one  of  the  numerous 


96  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

Gregories  whom  posterity  distinguishes  by  the  sumame  of  Thau- 
maturgus,  and  greatest  of  them  all  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Alexan- 
dria. He  himself  had  sat  at  the  feet  of  Ammonias  Saccus,  the 
founder  of  ISTeo-Platonism,  as  well  as  of  the  author  of  the  ''  Stro- 
mata,"  and  was  a  marvelously  voluminous  writer,  editing  the  Old 
Testament  with  many  different  versions  arranged  in  parallel  col- 
umns, composing  numerous  commentaries  of  various  descriptions, 
and  issuing  treatises  controversial,  didactic,  and  expository.  With 
so  numerous  a  progeny,  animate  and  inanimate,  it  would  be  re- 
markable if  the  character  of  such  an  intellectual  Samson  had  not 
impressed  itself  upon  the  school  of  which  he  was  the  head.  Of 
Origen  and  of  the  Alexandrian  school  it  may  safely  be  said  that 
they  were  not  inclined  to  rei)ress  inquiry.  Freely  discussing  all 
subjects  they  pushed  investigation  to  the  utmost  lawful  boundary, 
and  showed  no  greater  tenderness  in  their  treatment  of  religion 
than  of  any  other  branch  of  knowledge.  It  need  not  surprise  us, 
then,  if  the  very  central  doctrine  of  the  faith  was  handled  with  a 
freedom  that  was  not  perhaps  far  removed  from  irreverence. 

While  it  is  no  difficult  thing  for  those  who  have  low  and  car- 
nal notions  of  God  to  believe  in  an  apotheosis  of  hero  or  monarch, 
or  to  imagine  that  Jupiter  or  Brahma  has  appeared  on  earth  in 
human  form,  it  certainlv  does  strain  to  the  utmost  a  mind  enter- 
taining  the  lofty  conceptions  of  the  divine  nature  which  are  the 
priceless  heritage  of  Christians,  to  apprehend  the  possibility  of  the 
intimate  and  enduring  union  of  the  infinite  with  the  finite  which 
shall  result  in  a  partial  and  temporary  laying  aside  of  the  attri- 
butes of  the  former,  and  reach  a  climax  in  the  enduring  of  a  hor- 
rible and  degrading  death  reserved  for  the  worst  malefactors.  The 
speculative  tendency  of  Alexandria  would  inevitably  lead  to  the 
free  discussion  of  this  tremendous  theme,  and  to  the  formation  of 
many  a  complicated  theory  respecting  the  character  of  the  union, 
and  the  nature  and  position  of  the  One  who  became  man  that  He 
might  die  for  sinners.  Theories  of  the  Logos  or  Word  of  God  were 
indigenous  both  to  Judaism  and  to  Platonism,  so  that  all  that  was 
necessary  was  to  transplant  these  into  Christianity,  and  perhaps 
slightly  modify  them.  I^ow,  while  too  little  is  known  of  Arius's 
life  to  warrant  the  positive  assertion  that  he  borrowed  his  ideas 
directly  from  the  masters  of  the  great  school,  and  while  it  is  the 
reverse  of  true  that  his  teachings  were  identical  with  those  of 
Origen  and  Clemens,  or  even  very  closely  allied  to  them,  it  cannot 


COUNCIL  OF  NIC^A.  97 

be  hazardous  to  affirm  that  his  doctrine  was  tlie  natural  offspring 
of  Alexandria,  bearing  so  plainly  the  features  of  its  parent  that 
the  very  strongest  evidence  would  hardly  convince  us  that  it  had 
sprung  from  any  other  source  than  the  fountain-head  of  specula- 
tive philosophy  ;  the  waters  of  which  are  not  to  be  recklessly 
called  poisonous  because  a  stream  or  two,  imbibing  the  noxious 
qualities  of  the  soil  through  which  they  flowed,  exhaled  death  to 
those  who  breathed  their  vapors. 

Early  in  the  fourth  century  the  Church  in  that  great  and  busy 
city  was  presided  over  by  a  bishop  who  seems  to  have  fulfilled  the 
duties  of  his  responsible  station  with  ability  and  fidelity  much 
above  the  average.  In  delivering  a  charge  at  some  gathering  of 
his  clergy,  in  addressing  a  synod  upon  some  point  under  discus- 
sion, or,  we  may  conjecture,  in  preaching  to  the  assembled  multi- 
tude on  one  of  the  greater  festivals,  Alexander  took  occasion  to 
define  the  nature  of  God  the  Son  with  unusual  explieitness. 
Among  his  auditors  was  one  of  his  own  presbyters,  who  listened 
to  his  expositions  with  strong  disapproval.  Prompted  by  motives 
into  which  we  will  not  inquire,  this  man  opposed  his  bishop  with- 
out hesitation,  and  combated  his  arguments  with  no  little  acumen 
and  eloquence.  Arius  continued  to  propagate  his  doctrines  in 
public  and  private,  and  soon  drew  after  him  many  adherents  in 
Alexandria,  in  other  parts  of  Egypt,  and  in  Lybia,  becoming  the 
leader  of  a  very  considerable  party  in  the  Church,  and  rising  into 
such  notoriety  that  it  was  impossible  any  longer  to  pass  him  by 
unheeded.  Alexander  convened  the  clergy  from  a  greater  or  less 
circuit  on  two  separate  occasions,  to  advise  with  them  about  the 
matter,  and  finally  excommunicated  Arius  and  his  most  promi- 
nent disciples,  dispatching  thereupon  a  circular  letter  to  the  vari- 
ous churches  apprising  them  of  the  measure,  and  exhorting  them 
not  to  communicate  with  the  outcast.  Nothing  daunted,  Arius 
retired  into  Palestine  and  busied  himself  in  makino;  converts  of 
men  in  high  place  by  means  of  letters.  Such  astonishing  success 
attended  his  efibrts  that  two  hundred  and  fifty  bishops  assembled 
in  Bithynia,  and  addressed  all  the  others  in  his  behalf,  entreating 
that  they  would  receive  the  Arians  to  communion,  and  require 
Alexander  to  do  so  likewise. 

Both  parties  upheld  with  firmness  the  unity  of  God.  The 
original  objection  brought  against  Alexander  by  his  rebellious 
presbyter,  was  that  he  favored  that  extreme  theory  of  oneness. 


98  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

according  to  wliich  Sabellius  had  taught  that  there  were  three 
forms  or  aspects  of  the  Divine  Katnre,  but  not  three  persons, 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ohost  being  nothing  more  than  names  of 
three  diflferent  energies  of  the  one  personahtj.  Receding  as  far 
as  possible  from  Sabellianisra,  Arius  maintained  that  the  Son 
was  not  only  a  distinct  jyersoti  from  the  Father,  but  also  divided 
from  Him  in  essejice.  If  the  Son  -was  hegotten,  argued  he,  then 
nmst  He  be  posterior  in  time  to  Him  who  begat  Him ;  therefore 
the  former  is  not  coeternal  with  the  latter,  but,  although  He  was 
in  existence  before  the  world  was  made  by  Him,  though  He  was 
with  the  Father  l)efore  chaos  itself  was  created,  still  He  was  not 
always  in  being,  but  "  There  was  a  time  when  He  was  not"  (such 
was  the  formula,  or,  in  Greek,  r]v  ttote  ote  ovk  7]v)  ;  forgetting  that 
the  use  of  the  expression  Generation  and  its  kindred  terms  is  a 
condescension  to  man's  capacity,  and  does  not  at  all  justify  us  in 
drawing  all  the  deductions  that  would  be  proper  in  other  cases; 
forgetting,  too,  what  a  jy/iilosoj^hical  mind  might  have  been  ex- 
pected to  remember,  that  the  deity  is  not  bound  by  conditions  of 
time  and  space,  but  is  wholly  unconditioned,  so  that  it  is  perfectly 
conceivable  that  God  should  have  been  o.  father  from  the  earliest 
moment  (if  we  may  use  such  absurd  language)  of  His  own  being. 
Denying  the  eternity  of  the  Son,  he  could  not  well  avoid  a  denial 
of  His  essential  divinity,  and  boldly  advanced  to  the  positive 
declaration  that  His  substance  was  not  the  same  as  that  of  the 
Father,  being  communicated  to  Him  by  eternal  generation,  but 
that,  hke  angels,  He  was  created  by  God  "  Out  of  things  which 
were  not"  {?^  ovk  ovtcjv  elvai).  Apparently  he  did  not  perceive 
that  the  all-permeating  essence  of  deity  can  be  communicated 
without  loss,  or  subtraction,  or  diminution,  the  Giver  retaining 
all,  notwithstanding  that  He  has  imparted  it  whole  and  entire. 
"Wliat  could  have  been  more  radical  than  an  error  which  touched 
the  nature  of  God,  the  power  of  the  Saviour,  and  the  efficacy  of 
the  Atonement  ?  What  more  deadly  in  its  results,  than  a  heresy 
which  robbed  God  the  Son  of  His  honor,  and  God  the  Father  of 
the  glory  which,  we  are  told,  accrues  to  Him  from  the  ascription 
of  praise  to  His  Only-begotten  and  "Well- beloved  Son,  which  took 
away  the  value  of  Christ's  redeeming  death,  and  left  mankind 
groaning  under  the  bondage  of  sin  ?  Shall  it  be  said  that  because 
Anselm  had  not  yet  answered  the  question.  Why  God  became 
man  ("  Cur  Deus  Homo"),  the  Christian  world  did  not  know  the 


COUNCIL  OF  NIC^A.  99 

diiference  between  a  valid  and  an  invalid  Atonement,  and  did 
not  feel  its  faith  shaken  greatly  by  these  novel  and  fatal  teach- 
ings? Let  the  convulsive  throes  that  attended  the  birth  of  the 
Nicene  formula  answer  in  decisive  tones.  Well  might  the  Church 
exclaim,  These  men  are  taking  away  my  Saviour,  and  I  know  not 
where  they  are  laying  Him!  If  the  Saviour  was  "Emmanuel," 
God  with  us,  then  they  who  hide  from  our  longing  siglit  His 
divine  natnre,  do  what  they  can  to  deprive  us  of  our  Lord.  This 
did  Arius,  for  he  refused  to  allow  that  Christ  participated  in  the 
essential  being  of  the  Supreme.  If  he  or  his  followers  called  Ilim 
God,  they  always  did  it  with  mental  reservations,  meaning  that 
He  was  a  very  exalted  creature,  higher  than  any  archangel,  and 
enjoying  the  special  favor  of  the  Almighty,  but  still  only  a  creat- 
ure. How  astonishing  seem  then  such  words  as  these  of  a  recent 
author  who  has  written  at  length  upon  this  Council  (Stanley,  His. 
of  Eastern  Church) :  "  When  we  perceive  the  abstract  questions 
on  which  it  turned  {the  Avian  controversy),  when  we  reflect  that 
they  related  not  to  any  dealings  of  the  Deity  with  man,  not  even, 
properly  speaking,  to  the  Divinity  or  the  Humanity  of  Christ, 
nor  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  (for  all  these  points  were  ac- 
knowledged by  both  parties),  but  to  the  ineffable  relations  of  the 
Godhead  before  the  remotest  beginnin'g  of  time,  it  is  difficult  to 
conceive  that  by  inquiries  such  as  these  the  passions  of  mankind 
should  be  roused  to  fury "  !  The  learned  Dean  provokes  the 
comment  that  sometimes  the  sailors,  millers,  and  travelers,  the 
drapers,  money-changers,  and  victualers,  of  whom,  quoting  from 
Gregory  of  Nyssa,  he  goes  on  to  speak  as  disputing  everywhere, 
in  streets,  alleys,  and  market  places,  about  the  Subordination  and 
Origin  of  the  Son,  are  better  theologians,  from  that  natural  instinct 
which  discerns  relations  and  consequences,  than  others  whose  pro- 
fessional training  has  too  much  warped  the  mind ;  for  they  at  least 
saw  that  a  God  who  is  made  of  nothing,  and  had  a  beginning  of 
His  existence,  is  no  God  at  all,  and  that  a  religion,  which  pro- 
claims salvation  on  the  ground  that  God  has  ransomed  us  by  His 
own  blood,  is  a  pure  fiction,  if  the  one  who  made  the  atonement 
was  divine  only  by  figure  of  speech  or  by  courtesy.  No  wonder 
that  society  was  stirred  to  its  depths,  we  say,  when  Christians 
were  coolly  told  that  He  whom  they  had  worshiped,  upon  whose 
divine  power  they  had  been  taught  to  lean,  to  whom  they  looked 
up  with  a  fervid  and  reverential  love  strong  enough  to  carry  them 


100  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

"with  songs  of  triumph  through  devouring  flames,  was  no  more  of 
a  God  in  actuab'ty  than  any  one  of  the  hundreds  whom  they  had 
hurled  down  from  their  marble  pedestals. 

The  emperor  undertook  to  allay  the  ferment,  and  writing  a 
hortatory  letter  he  sent  the  famous  Ilosius  of  Cordova  with  it  to 
Alexandna,  in  the  hope  that  through  these  means  he  would  easily 
reconcile  the  disputants  by  force  of  argument  and  weight  of  influ- 
ence. Sadlv  discoverins:  that  he  had  miscalculated  the  resistance 
to  be  overcome,  he  next  adopted  a  plan  which  could  hardly  have 
been  executed  by  one  whose  sway  was  less  extensive  and  his  rule 
less  unquestioned.  Indeed  it  almost  seems  fortunate  for  the 
Church  that  Constantine  at  that  juncture  wielded  the  influence 
which  he  did  over  its  affairs.  Mutual  afireement  miirht  have 
inclined  the  bishops  to  congregate,  but  without  the  facilities  for 
travel  aflforded  them  by  the  imperial  mandate  which  placed  at 
their  disposal  the  asses,  mules,  and  horses  employed  on  the  roads 
for  the  transaction  of  public  business,  not  to  mention  the  generous 
subsistence  accorded  them  by  the  same  authority  during  the  entire 
period  of  the  session,  they  would  hardly  have  surmounted  in  any 
numbers  the  difficulties  they  would  have  encountered  in  attempt- 
ing to  carry  out  their  wishes.  Even  as  it  was  the  great  majority 
of  the  members  were  residents  of  the  East,  though  of  the  Western 
prelates  a  sufficient  number  appeared  to  constitute  a  respectable 
representation.  Thus,  in  this  case,  a  great  evil  was  not  unattended 
by  visible  good. 

At  Nice,  a  city  of  Bithynia,  in  the  year  325,  a.  d.,  assembled 
three  hundred  and  eighteen  fathers  of  the  Church,  besides  presby- 
ters and  deacons  to  the  number  of  about  two  thousand.  Asia 
as  far  east  as  Mesopotamia,  and  to  Arabia  on  the  south,  Egypt 
and  Lybia  in  Africa,  and  Europe  along  the  Mediterranean  as  far 
as  Italy  were  present  by  delegates.  Scythia,  Spain,  and  Persia, 
each  had  one  representative,  nor  was  there  wanting  a  Goth.  The 
four  apostolic  sees  ot  Antioch,  Jerusalem,  Alexandria,  and  Rome 
sent  their  occupants,  Eustathius,  Macarius,  and  Alexander,  or,  in 
the  case  of  Julius,  who  was  incapacitated  from  attending  by  old 
age,  two  presbyters,  Yito  and  Yicentius,  in  his  stead.  A  few 
prominent  figures  must  be  sketched  before  we  proceed  to  narrate 
the  doings  of  the  great  synod. 

Hosius,  bishop  of  Cordova,  has  been  already  mentioned. 
Being  the  only  man  that  sat  in  that  council  who  can  possibly  be 


COUNCIL  OF  mC^A.  101 

considered  as  the  rival  of  Atlianasius  in  theological  attainments, 
coming  from  the  farthest  west  of  Europe  as  the  spokesman  of  the 
Spanish  Church,  and  enjoying  the  high  distinction  of  being  the 
trusted  counselor  of  the  emperor,  he  may  well  claim  the  iirst  place 
in  our  attention.  During  the  seventy  years  of  his  episcopate  it 
was  liis  lot  to  assist  at  numerous  councils, — at  that  of  Illiberis  in 
305  A.  D.,  of  Aries  in  314,  of  Sardica  in  347,  over  which  last  he 
presided ;  and  of  SiiTuium,  which  he  attended  with  reluctance. 
At  this  Arian  council  the  poor  old  man,  whose  faculties  were 
weakened  by  the  strain  of  a  hundred  years,  was  subjected  to 
stripes  and  tortures  until  he  consented  to  sign  the  formula  to 
which  the  emperor  Constantius,  at  the  instigation  of  the  heretics, 
required  the  sanction  of  his  venerated  name.  This  momentary 
weakness  the  patriarch  repented  before  lie  went  to  receive  the 
reward  of  his  long  labors,  for  it  is  said  that  he  afterwards 
recanted.  We  may  be  sure  that  there  entered  the  hall  of  the 
assembly  no  more  honored  personage  than  this  sexagenarian,  a  stead- 
fast confessor  in  the  persecutions  of  Maximin,  and  the  confidant 
of  the  throne  in  regard  to  the  Latin  Church. 

If  historians  are  right  in  seating  Hosius  on  the  left  hand  of 
the  emperor,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  the  still  more  honor- 
able position  was  given  to  the  elegant  panegyrist  who  formally 
addressed,  as  he  sat  in  the  hall,  that  royal  master  whose  ear  he, 
above  all  other  ecclesiastics  of  the  East,  had  gained,  Eusebius 
Pamphilus,  bishop  of  Coesarea,  a  man  not  deficient  in  rhetorical 
skill  nor  in  literary  talent,  and  particularly  noted  for  his  vast  eru- 
dition and  the  proliticness  of  his  pen,  whom  we  should  respect  as 
the  father  of  Church  histoiy.  His  fame  has  been  obscured  by 
charges  of  Arianism  which  may  not  be  entirely  undeserved :  it 
was,  however,  his  misfortune  to  bear  the  same  name  with  the 
bishop  of  I^icomedia,  who  sat  in  the  same  council  and  was  almost 
more  of  an  Arian  than  the  founder  of  the  sect  himself;  besides 
being  a  man  who  understood  and  freely  used  the  arts  oi diplomacy^ 
which  he  did  not  properly  distinguish  from  trickery.  The  two 
men  are  so  thoroughly  blended  by  distance  and  perspective  that 
we  cannot  divest  ourselves  of  the  idea  that  a  very  close  similarity 
between  the  characters  of  the  two  dignitaries  did  exist ;  in  which 
judgment  moderns  may  be  pardoned  when  the  ancients  report 
that  he  of  Caesarea  only  escaped  martyrdom  by  sacrificing  to  an 
idol.     It  ought  nevertheless  to  be  recorded  as  a  countei-poise  that, 


102  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

out  of  regard  for  ancient  custom,  he  declined  the  proffered  patri- 
archal throne  of  Antioch,  because  an  acceptance  would  have 
translated  him  from  one  see  to  another.  In  Eusehius  of  Ciesarea 
we  certainly  have  a  striking  contrast  to  Ilosius  of  Cordova,  the 
one  temporizing,  vacillating,  courtlj  ;  the  other,  frank,  honest, 
stern,  not  over-polished,  firm  as  a  rock, — for  we  may  permit  our- 
selves to  forget  the  momentary  weakness  of  a  mortal  who  has 
reached  his  tenth  decade.  May  we  not  say  that  Constantine 
enjoyed  the  nnusual  privilege  of  actually  Ihtening  to  the  two 
counselors  who  are  always  seated  at  the  right  and  left  of  human 
judgment,  one  advocating  expediency,  the  other  unswerving 
rectitude?  "What  a  man  these  two  favorites  would  have  made 
compounded  into  one !  Such  a  man  was  present  in  that  chamber : 
we  will  speak  of  him  after  we  have  bestowed  a  passing  glance 
upon  one  who  rose  into  prominence  about  this  time. 

Eustathius  of  Antioch  deserves  mention  not  so  much  for  any 
unusual  capacities  of  mind,  as  for  the  unswerving  purpose  and 
sublime  courage  with  which  he  supported  the  orthodox  cause.  He 
was  condemned  by  a  synod  of  the  heretics,  driven  from  his  flock, 
which  resented  the  robbery  in  angry  tumults,  recalled  by  Jovian, 
banished  again  by  Yalens,  and  doomed  to  die  in  exile.  When 
the  "  Ariomanita?,  "  or  "Raving  Arians,"  as  the  vehemence  of 
orthodox  oratory  sometimes  styled  them,  were  looking  about  for 
a  victim,  their  glance  naturally  rested  upon  one  marked  out  for 
their  hatred  by  the  prominence  of  his  station,  the  clearness  of  his 
views,  and  the  forcibleness  with  which  he  stated  his  opinions. 
Eustathius  bore  up  manfully  against  the  storm,  and  deserves  the 
praise  of  all  who  admire  fidehty  and  heroism. 

As  Alexandria  had  nourished  the  plant  from  which  came  the 
poison,  it  was  eminently  proper  that  it  should  also  furnish  the 
antidote.  The  inflicting  of  an  Arius  can  be  pardoned  to  a  Church 
which  gave  the  world  the  wisdom,  the  glorious  example,  and  the 
priceless  memory  of  an  Athanasius.  Many  a  time  during  the  sit- 
tings of  the  First  Council  must  Alexander  have  congratulated  him- 
self upon  his  discernment  and  foresight  in  bringing  with  him  his 
youthful  deacon.  Though  probably  excluded  by  his  humble  sta- 
tion from  taking  part  in  the  public  debates,  the  voice  of  Athana- 
sius, we  may  be  sure,  was  heard  in  many  a  private  gathering,  pre- 
liminary or  held  for  consultation  after  the  formal  opening  of  the 
Council.     His  brain  supplied  many  an  argument  which  was  lis- 


COU:yCIL  OF  NIC^A.  103 

tened  to  from  other  lips,  his  wisdom  dictated  many  a  step  which 
the  iuferior  powers  of  those  above  him  would  never  have  origi- 
nated, and  his  dauntless  spirit  actuated  more  than  one  timid  shep- 
herd when  uttering  words  of  higher  tone  than  his  own  heart  would 
have  prompted.  Extraordinary  assertions  are  these  to  make  con- 
cerning a  young  man  of  twenty-five  years,  but  the  homage  of  uni- 
versal admiration  ought  to  be  accepted  as  proof  that  they  are  not 
exaggerated.  Athanasius  may  have  been  hated,  as  doubtless  lie 
has  been  ;  but  despised,  never.  The  batteries  of  sarcasm  have  often 
been  leveled  against  the  champion  of  the  Ilomoonsion,  openly,  as 
by  the  ultra-h'berals  of  our  day,  covertly,  as  by  the  chronicler  of 
the  Decline,  but  always  with  visible  trembling  of  limb.  Of  all 
uninspired  men,  not  one  perhaps  has  attained  the  just  renown  of 
this  hero.  His  preeminence  largely  consisted  in  the  universality 
of  his  capabilities.  To  rule  men  requires  the  very  perfection  of 
moral  and  mental  powers,  and  if  ever  man  was  born  to  guide  his 
fellow-beings  in  critical  junctures,  that  man  was  Athanasius.  It 
is  true  that  if  intellectual  worth  is  to  be  measured  by  the  number 
of  books  read  and  the  facility  of  producing  quotations,  many  have 
excelled  the  dauntless  archbishop,  and  among  those  assembled 
worthies  the  palm  would  have  to  be  conceded  to  Eusebius ;  but 
then  we  dispute  the  soundness  of  this  test.  It  would  be  scarcely 
less  unreasonable  to  calculate  muscular  strength  by  the  amount  of 
food  eaten  and  the  rapidity  of  bodily  contortions.  Let  us  apply 
better  criteria.  Yery  much  as  it  is  proper  to  estimate  bodily 
power  by  the  resistance  overcome,  it  is  allowable  to  compute 
mental  force  by  success  in  the  arena  of  debate.  The  argumenta- 
tive power  of  Athanasius  has  never  been  excelled,  perhaps  not 
even  rivaled :  others  may  have  exhibited  more  dexterity  in  wield- 
ing the  foils  of  mock  combat,  but  when  the  question  is  of  down- 
right, solid,  practical,  and  profound  reasoning,  the  superior  of  this 
divine  has  not  yet  been  developed.  The  subject  matter  of  his 
discussions  was  the  deepest  that  can  engage  man's  attention,  the 
Substance  of  Godhead,  and  was  handled  by  him  with  such  sui-j^ass- 
ine  skill  that  fifteen  centuries  of  continued  strife  have  hardly  sue- 
ceeded  in  fabricating  a  new  weapon,  and  that  the  greatest  cham- 
pions of  English  orthodoxy  against  modem  Arianism  delighted  to 
acknowledge  him  for  their  master,  ^o  single  brain  and  no  com- 
bination of  brains  could  resist  his  arguments :  neither  Arius  nor 
Eusebius  of  Kicomedia,  nor  the  whole  sect  combined,  could  face 


104  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

them  except  •with  quibbles  and  evasions.     Tliat  the  persuasive- 
ness of  his  eloquence  was  equal  to  its  convincingness  is  far  from 
certain,  and  yet  it  appears  extremely  improbable  that  his  fiery 
harangues  failed  to  carry  along  with  them  the  sympathies  of  even 
the  coldest  auditors.     In  nothing,  however,  was  the  mightiness  of 
his  genius  more  apparent  tlian  in  his  executive  ability.     Living  in 
a  succession  of  crises,  we  never  read  that  he  omitted  to  do  the 
right  thing  at  the  right  moment,  or  that  he  did  it  otherwise  than 
most   skillfully.      "When  all  else  were    irresolute,  perplexed,  in 
despair,  when  the  leaders  had  exhausted  every  resource,  were  at  a 
loss  for  an  expedient,  and  doubtful  whether  to  yield  or  die,  Atha- 
nasius's  fertile  invention  was  ready  with  a  plan,  his  understanding 
clear  and  strong  in  showing  its  feasibility,  his  tact  quick  to  seize 
the  most  efficient  way  of  bringing  the  skeptical  and  doubtful  into 
his  mode  of  thinking,  and  his  spirit  fearless,  commanding,  and 
resolute  in  advancing  through  opposition  and  danger  to  the  best 
attainable  result.      All  classes  of  men  bowed  to  his  genius :  it 
made  no  difference  whether  he  was  dealing  with  the  cultivated 
and  dignified  officers  of  church  and  state  or  with  the  rude  mob 
of  a  seaside  emporium,  with  the  disciplined  soldiery  of  the  em- 
pire or  with  the  terrible  fanatics  of  the  Nitrian  monastic  com- 
munities, always  a  king  among  his  fellows,  he  ruled  them  with  the 
absolute  despotism  of  manifest  mental  superiority  when  united 
with  singleness  of  aim  and  purity  of  heart.     Ilis  moral  quahties 
were,  if  possible,  even  more  conspicuous.     The  holiness  of  his  life 
was  such  that  even  his  bitterest  enemies  (and  no  one  ever  had 
more  bitter  ones)  could  hardly  conjure  up  a  calumny  against  him. 
They  did  charge  him  with  the  heaviest  crimes,  murder  and  adul- 
tery, but  were  each  time  put  to  silence  in  overwhelming  disgrace. 
"Was  he  violent  in  liis  denunciations  of  the  Arians?     We  may  pal- 
liate that  offense  by  pleading  the  w^armth  of  controversy,  if  we  do 
not  even  challenge  the  accuser  to  show  that  the  language  was  not 
justified  by  the  occasion.     Shall  we  require  a  man  to  defend  the 
central  doctrine  of  the  faith  with  the  calmness  which  might  not 
be  out  of  place  in  a  mathematical  discussion  ?     Shall  we  fault  him 
for  betraying  some  emotion,  some  passion  even,  when  contemplat- 
ing the  plots  and  inroads  of  a  set  of  recusants  and  outlaws  who 
have  gone  on  from  "  denying  the  Lord  that  bought  them  "  to  the 
persecution  of  His  followers  ?     If  courage  and  fidelity  are  virtues, 
when  were  these  ever  displayed  to  greater  advantage  than  by  this 


COUNCIL  OF  NIC^A.  105 

intrepid  bishop,  who  suffered  almost  everything  in  behalf  of  his 
Creed  ?  In  fine,  then,  we  behold  at  the  side  of  Alexander  a  youth, 
like  St.  Paul  of  insignificant  personal  appearance,  small  and 
spare,  but  destined  to  be  the  foremost  man  of  his  age  in  the  eyes 
of  his  contemporaries,  and  a  marvel  to  all  succeeding  times,  en- 
dowed with  a  rare  combination  of  the  most  brilliant  and  solid  fac- 
ulties, a  scholar,  logician,  divine,  orator,  statesman,  advocate,  and 
ruler,  all  in  one ;  quick,  versatile,  comprehensive,  systematic,  and 
profound ;  fearless,  disinterested,  cautious,  .decided,  prompt,  tena- 
cious, humble,  self-reliant,  and  self-contained ;  pure-minded,  zeal- 
ous, devout,  gentle,  sympathetic,  personally  magnetic,  discerning, 
honorable,  and  pious ;  beloved,  admired,  almost  feared  by  all 
except  those  who  belonged  to  the  opposing  party,  and  by  them 
dreaded  scarcely  less  than  though  he  had  been  the  Prince  of  Evil 
himself.  Such  was  the  great  Athanasius,  so  named,  as  it  would 
appear  from  the  event,  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  for,  in  very  truth, 
of  all  that  have  been  born  to  die  none  has  attained  more  entirely 
than  he  such  exemption  from  this  lot  as  is  afforded  by  the  /m- 
mortality  of  fame. 

His  life,  crowded  with  incidents  and  dignified  by  the  steadfast 
pursuit,  through  the  entire  duration  of  his  episcopate,  of  one  grand 
aim,  was  not  less  remarkable  than  his  character.  It  would  be  no 
easy  task  to  select  from  history  any  one  person  who  has  passed 
through  a  greater  round  of  vicissitudes,  and  been  a  prominent 
actor  in  so  many  varied  scenes  of  thrilling  interest ;  and  indeed  it 
may  admit  of  question  whether  the  most  vivid  imagination  of 
poet,  novelist,  or  romancer  has  ever  invented  a  biography  more 
brilliant  with  dramatic  coloring.  He  first  appears  as  the  sportive 
bishop  of  a  childish  game,  in  which  his  companions  contented 
themselves  with  personating  presbyters  and  deacons,  and  dis- 
played the  strange  intuitive  power  of  childhood  by  ceding  his 
proper  place  to  the  future  prelate  :  on  this  occasion  the  fortunate 
occurrence  of  Alexander's  passing  the  group  is  said  to  have  se- 
cured them  all  a  theological  education.  Then  we  behold  him 
when  barely  twenty-five  years  old  Archdeacon,  the  right-hand 
man  of  Alexandria's  Pope,  and  we  might  almost  say  director  of 
the  first  great  synod.  Within  five  months  from  the  date  of  his 
return  we  find  him  grasping  the  pastoral  staff  which  death  has 
wrested  from  the  hand  of  his  aged  predecessor.  He  is  now  the 
bulwark  of  Christendom,  occupying  the  highest  throne  and  plant- 


106  THE  CHVRCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

ing  it  in  the  deadliest  breach.  Charges  of  a  heinous  nature  are 
brouijht  against  him  by  his  enemies,  and  he  is  summoned  to  an- 
swer them  before  a  synod  of  his  adversaries  convoked  at  Cajsarea. 
He  disdains  such  a  tribunal,  but  obeys  the  command  of  his  im- 
perial master  so  fiir  as  to  appear  at  a  similar  council  held  at 
Tyre,  a.  d.  335,  attended  by  fifty  of  his  suffragans.  Eusebius  of 
CsEsarea  presided  and  conducted  the  proceedings  in  a  maimer  not 
much  to  iiis  credit.  The  accusations  covered  much  ground,  and 
had  the  odor  of  foul  exhalations.  xVthanasius  was  equal  to  the 
occasion,  baffling  the  accusers  with  marvelous  skill.  What  could 
have  been  more  shrewdly  devised  than  the  artifice  by  which, 
when  a  lewd  woman  was  introduced  to  testify  that  he  had  sinned 
with  her,  Timotheus,  the  presbyter,  steps  before  the  creature, 
who  did  not  even  know  her  intended  victim  by  sight,  and,  as 
though  he  had  been  Athanasius  himself,  interrogates  her,  draws 
the  fire  of  her  over-charged  eftrontery,  and  makes  her  declare  that 
he  was  the  man  who  had  committed  the  deed  of  violence?  More 
tra<ric  is  the  scene  in  which  the  murdered  Arsenius  is  uncloaked. 
In  witness  of  the  killing  of  that  ]\[eletian  bishop,  an  embalmed 
Iiand,  after  having  been  exhibited  in  many  places  to  a  shocked 
and  incredulous  pul)lic,  was  produced  in  court.  "How  many 
liands  has  nature  furnished  a  man  with?"  we  can  almost  hear 
that  incisive  voice  demand,  as  the  cloak  is  raised  on  both  sides 
of  a  well-known  figure,  and  the  two  hands  of  the  living  Arsenius 
are  exhibited  to  the  abashed  sight  of  those  malevolent  heretics. 
But  the  condemnation  of  the  great  man  was  a  foregone  conclu- 
sion. Not  tamely  yielding  to  the  base  enmity  of  his  antagonists, 
Athanasius  suddenly  transfei-s  himself  to  the  principal  street  of 
the  New  Rome,  and,  overawing  the  guards  with  his  majestic 
bearing,  asks  justice  at  the  hands  of  an  angry  monarch,  who 
must  have  been  astonished  at  his  boldness  in  approaching  him. 
Athanasius  was  banished  to  the  court  of  Treves,  but  his  seat  at 
Alexandria  was  allowed  to  remain  unfilled.  Twenty  years,  out 
of  the  forty-six  during  which  he  held  the  crosier,  were  spent  in 
enforced  absence.  Much  of  this  time  he  lay  concealed  in  order 
to  save  his  life.  Such  a  man  could  count  upon  the  fidelity  of  his 
friends.  If  any  one  intended  to  betray  him,  w-hich  very  seldom 
happened,  he  was  always  beforehand  with  the  traitor  or  traitress, 
and  made  his  escape.  His  asylum  was  everywhere.  He  could  flee 
to  the  caves  in  the  desert,  sure  that  the  hermits  would  joyfully 


COUNCIL   OF  NIC^A.  107 

embrace  the  death  of  martyrdom,  ahnost  to  the  last  man,  rather 
than  reveal  his  hiding-place ;  or  he  could  penetrate,  according  to 
the  story  told  with  such  evident  relish  by  a  not  over-scrupulous 
historian,  into  the  sanctum  of  spotless  virginity  and  there  be  wel- 
comed, concealed,  and  served  with  the  devoted  attachment  and 
unsuspecting  trust  which  no  ordinary  man  could  elicit.  His 
power  of  concealment  and  rapid  movement  was  so  surprising  as 
to  be  ascribed  by  the  vulgar  to  a  knowledge  of  witchcraft  and 
magic.  It  is  even  possible  that  he  actually  saw  councils,  such  as 
those  of  Rimini  and  Selencia,  at  which  his  presence  was  not  even 
suspected  at  the  time.  One  might  say,  without  great  exaggeration, 
that  he  possessed  the  faculty  of  rendering  himself  invisible.  Upon 
the  accession  of  Julian,  he  is  obliged  to  flee  in  a  boat  up  the  Nile. 
Ascertaining  that  enemies  are  on  his  track,  he  turns  behind  the 
bend  of  the  river,  retraces  his  course,  answers  the  hail,  "Where 
is  Athanasius  ? "  with  the  brief  reply,  "  He  is  near,"  passes  on, 
and  escapes.  Self-possession  and  shrewdness,  beautifully  as  they 
manifested  themselves  in  the  crisis  just  mentioned,  shone  forth 
more  brilliantly  in  his  response  to  the  demand  of  Constantius  for 
the  opening  of  one  Alexandrian  church  to  the  Arians ;  "  I  will 
grant  a  clmreh  to  the  heretics  at  Alexandria,  as  soon  as  you  grant 
a  church  to  the  Orthodox  at  Antioch."  Neither  Horatius  nor 
Regulus,  not  Epaminondas,  Miltiades,  nor  Leonidas  appears  to 
greater  advantage  for  calnmess  and  heroism  in  danger  than  Atha- 
nasius on  the  ever-memorable  night  which  saw  the  Church  of  St. 
Theonas  broken  into  by  the  soldiers  of  Syrianus  while  a  vigil  was 
being  kept  preparatory  to  the  celebration  of  the  Eucharist. 
Though  urged  to  save  himself,  the  bishop  scorned  to  forsake  his 
people.  Ordering  the  136th  Psalm  to  be  sung,  with  its  inspiring 
chorus,  "  For  His  mercy  endureth  forever,"  he  stood  collectedly 
at  the  altar  till  the  shouts  of  the  assailants,  mingled  with  the  cries 
and  shrieks  of  the  helpless  multitude,  had  drowned  the  sound  of 
praise,  and  till  the  building  was  nearly  emptied  of  the  surviving 
worshipers,  and  then  at  last  consented  to  consult  his  own  safety. 

Wonderfully  did  Divine  Providence  provide  for  the  preservation 
of  the  Catholic  Church  during  this  most  terrible  struggle  and  fearful 
danger  by  raising  up  such  a  man,  and  protecting  and  supporting 
him  through  those  long  years  of  contention.  Indefatigable  as  well 
as  zealous,  Athanasius  allowed  himself  no  respite,  but  in  exile,  not 
less  than  when  ruling  over  his  see,  his  time,  energies,  prayers,  and 


108  TEE  CEUnCE  AND  TEE  FAITE. 

fervent  love  were  given  to  the  imperiled  ark.  If  he  was  debarred 
from  using  other  instrumentalities,  he  could  at  least  wield  the  pen. 
If  any  new  argument  was  launched  upon  the  sea  of  controvers}', 
it  was  exhaustively  treated  almost  iunuediately,  and  deiinitely  and 
finally  pronounced  upon,  by  an  author  who  might  be  recognized, 
at  least,  if  not  fonually  identified.  Xor  need  imperial  tyranny 
expect  to  escape  unscathed.  From  out  of  concealment  and  exile 
issned  a  hand  which  seized  the  throne  of  Constantius,  and  shook  it 
till  that  weak  prince  raged  in  impotent  wrath  as  he  tried  in  vain 
to  crush  the  nimble  foe  who  exposed  his  follies  and  crimes  to  a 
suffering  and  persecuted  Church.  Like  Elijah  of  old,  Athanasius 
seemed  to  stand  alone,  a  solitary  witness  for  the  truth  of  God,  and 
yet  untaltering  in  his  faith  and  unwavering  in  his  trust,  sure  that 
the  right  was  on  his  side  and  must  eventually  prevail ;  the  grand- 
est spectacle  earth  affords.  Says  Hooker :  "  Only  of  Athanasius 
there  was  nothing  observed  throughout  the  coui*se  of  that  long 
tragedy,  other  than  such  as  very  well  became  a  wise  man  to  do, 
and  a  righteous  to  suffer." 

Truly,  this  was  a  remarkable  synod :  such  an  one  it  was  in 
many  respects  as  none  have  been,  or  perhaps  could  have  been, 
since.  It  was  not  twenty  years  since  the  Apocalyptic  vision  of  the 
Second  Seal  had  come  to  its  end  in  the  final  sheathing  of  his 
weapon  by  the  Eider  on  the  Tied  Horse,  to  whom  was  given  the 
great  sword  wherewith  to  slay  the  servants  of  Christ ;  not  more 
than  seventy-five  since  the  terrible  edicts  of  Decius  had  rolled  the 
crested  wave  of  blood  from  end  to  end  of  the  vast  empire. 
Scarcely  a  member  of  that  Council  but  bare  upon  his  body  the 
stamp  of  ])ersecution.  Here  stood  a  bowed  figure  all  wrenched 
and  distorted  by  the  sufterings  he  had  borne,  there  another  whose 
face  wore  the  scar  of  an  empty  and  seared  socket  where  the  right 
eye  had  been  till  the  cruel  sword  dug  it  out,  here  a  stately  form 
marred  by  the  loss  of  the  right  arm,  and  yet  another  M-hich  stood 
insecurely  upon  a  ham-strung  leg.  Paphnutius,  Potammon, 
Paul  of  Caesarea  formed  a  group  displaying  all  these  varieties  of 
mutilation.  When  no  such  plainly  apparent  traces  had  been  left, 
the  removal  of  the  tunic  would  often  have  disclosed  a  furrowed 
back.  If  we  may  rely  upon  tradition,  only  fifteen  out  of  the  three 
hundred  and  eighteen  had  altogether  escaped  maltreatment. 
From  such  a  gathering  of  confessors,  the  first  that  had  assembled, 
the  last  that  was  likelv  to  be  held  now  that  the  world  had  ceased 


COUNCIL  OF  NIC^A.  109 

to  rage  against  the  fold,  what  forbearance,  and  humility,  and 
calmness,  and  charitableness,  as  well  as  unblenching  firmness, 
might  not  justly  be  expected !  Surely  venerable  men  who  had 
fearlessly  laid  down  their  lives  for  the  exceeding  love  they  bore 
the  Saviour  of  the  world  could  be  counted  upon  to  discuss  the 
great  questions  which  M'ere  being  forced  upon  their  notice  in  a 
temper  befitting  brethren  and  Christians !  JSTor  were  these  expec- 
tfitions  disappointed. 

After  holding  various  informal  meetings,  the  council  at  last 
assembled  in  solemn  state  within  the  walls  of  the  palace,  and 
awaited  the  presence  of  the  Emperor,  who  in  due  time  appeared 
and  advanced  towards  the  upper  end  of  the  hall,  not,  however, 
ascending  his  seat  till  invited  to  do  so  by  the  bishops.     The  right 
of  this  dignitary  to  the  position  in  which  the  narrative  places  him 
is  far  from  indisputable,  nor  can  any  arguments  drawn  from  the 
grace  and  mildness  and  efficiency  with  which  he  played  the  part 
of  Moderator,  possess  sufficient  cogency  to  overthrow  the  convic- 
tion that  the  precedent  thus  established  was  a  bad  one.     Who  and 
what  was  Constantino  that  he  should  direct  the  deliberations  of 
tkis  assembly  ?     In  the  eyes  of  the  Church  the  proudest  potentate 
is  no  more  than  a  mere  layman.     Just  as  properly  might  an 
eunuch  of  the  bed-chamber  have  occupied  that  throne  as  Constan- 
tino the  Great.     The  diffidence  of  the  haughty  conqueror,  and  the 
blush  Avhich  mantled  his  cheek  when  he  advanced  before  so  many 
honored  fathers  of  the  Church,  shall  not  hide  from  us  the  lact 
that  he  had  stepped  out  of  his  proper  province  when  he  presumed 
to  convoke  them,  and  that  he  transgressed  still  more  flagrantly  the 
bounds  of  lay  action  when  he  assumed  the  seat  which  they  did  not 
refuse  to  accord  him.     However,  it  seems  to  be  agreed  that  the 
immediate  result  of  his  interference  was  beneficial  rather  than 
injurious.     Either  by  reason  of  the  restraint  imposed  by  the  pres- 
ence of  the  mighty  prince,  or  because  of  the  sobering  and  sanctify- 
ing influence  of  the  severe  education  through  which  so  many  of 
the  delegates  had  passed,  a  remarkable  degree  of  harmony  seems 
to  have  prevailed  from  the  first  to  the  last.     Confessor  after  con- 
fessor arose  to  give  his  testimony  as  to  the  belief  of  his  particular 
church,  and  when  all  who   desired  to  be  heard  had   occupied 
the  floor,  a  Creed  was  adopted  with  very  little  dissent,  and  a 
letter  drawn  up  and  sent  with  one  accord  to  those  among  whom 
Arianism  had  seen  the  light.     This  done  and  a  few  other  matters 


110  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

duly  settled,  the  chief  shepherds,  glad  in  heart  at  the  happy  con- 
clusion reached,  and  refreshed  by  fraternal  communion,  hastened 
their  return  to  the  flocks  they  had  left,  little  thinking,  it  may  be, 
how  many  generations  would  look  back  with  deep  veneration  to 
the  Bithynian  gathering  by  the  shores  of  the  Ascanian  Lake. 

It  is  necessary  now  to  study  attentively  the  theological  results 
of  the  Council.  In  thinking  of  the  Deity,  man  necessarily  trans- 
fers to  Him  ideas  formed  from  reflecting  upon  his  own  nature : 
no  other  course  is  open  to  us.  In  regard  to  the  individual  man, 
he  may  be  considered  in  his  points  of  resemblance  to  his  fellows 
or  in  his  absolute  distinctness  from  each  and  every  other  being : 
he  shares  with  all  who  belong  to  the  human  family  a  nature  pos- 
sessing certain  characteristics,  Avhile  he  stands  alone  by  himself  an 
individual  man.  He  has  a  nature  and  a  personality.  Viewing 
still  more  closely  his  nature^  and  comparing  it,  as  it  manifests 
itself,  as  it  exists,  in  him,  with  the  natures  (so  to  speak)  of  other 
persons,  we  are  drawn  on  to  the  question,  Is  the  nature  of  A.  the 
saine  as  that  of  B.,  or  only  similar  to  it  ?  If  we  conclude  that  the 
relation  is  that  of  ^umene.^s^  inasmuch  as  that  of  mere  similarity  more 
properly  belongs  to  a  comparison  such  as  of  man's  nature  with  the 
ape's,  we  must  qualify  this  conclusion  by  explicitly  defining  the 
sameness  of  which  we  treat  as  not  that  of  identity,  but  of  quality 
and  characteristic :  in  other  words,  two  men  have  the  same  nature^ 
but  not  the  same  substance.  We  rise  to  God,  and  reverently  seek 
to  make  an  application  of  these  distinctions  to  the  Godhead.  In 
the  Godhead  exist  three  persons,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost: 
what  is  the  relation  of  each  to  the  others  ?  If  we  say  that  the 
relationship  is  the  same  as  that  of  man  to  man,  we  become  Trithe- 
ists  at  once,  and  have  three  separate  gods,  each  of  which  is  infinite 
and  eternal.  The  nature  of  Divinity  is  not  capable  of  being  thus 
divided :  that  which  is  God  is  God  whole  and  entire;  or  else  it  is 
none  at  all.  Personal  distinctions  may  and  do  exist ;  the  Father 
begets,  the  Son  is  begotten,  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeds /  the  Father 
creates,  the  Son  redeems,  the  Holy  Ghost  sanctifies ;  but  there 
remains  someiohat  which  is  the  same  in  all  three,  something  which 
corresponds  to  substance  or  nature  in  man,  and  yet  differs  from 
that  in  not  being  given  in  separate  portions  to  each;  for  the 
Father  is  xohole  God  (so  to  express  the  conception),  the  Son  is 
whole  God,  and  the  Spirit  is  whole  God.  There  are  not  three 
gods,  as  there  must  be  if  to  each  appertains  a  distinct  portion  of 


COUNCIL  OF  NICJEA.  Ill 

the  Divine  essence,  but  one  God  only.  A  word  is  needed  for  this 
somewhat,  and  must  labor  under  the  disadvantage  that  it  will 
savor  of  materialism.  Essence,  being,  substance,  all  these  convey 
carnal  ideas  more  or  less,  and  are  so  far  objectionable.  "What 
other  course  is  open  than  to  select  the  word  which  seems  most 
appropriate,  as  being  most  expressive  of  the  important  idea  and  at 
the  same  time  least  open  to  objection,  and  make  it  a  technical 
word,  i.  e.,  arbitrarily  (if  the  reader  choose)  and  authoritatively 
pronounce  that  this  given  word  shall  in  theology  carry  with  it  the 
meaning  we  put  upon  it  ?  Theology  can  scarcely  be  denied,  with 
any  propriety,  a  liberty  which  is  freely  granted  to  other  sciences. 
The  word  thus  selected  was  by  no  means  a  new  one,  but  can  be 
found  in  more  than  one  ante-Nicene  writer  of  orthodox  fame 
applied  just  as  the  Council  appropriated  it,  a  fact  which  hardly 
needs  further  establishment  than  the  confession  of  Eusebius  of 
Caesarea.  Tertullian,  Origen,  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  and  the 
martyr  Pamphilus  are  shown  by  Bishop  Bull  to  have  thus  em- 
ployed the  "unius  substantise"  of  the  Latins, or  "  Homoousion" 
of  the  Greeks.  It  may  be  deemed  unfortunate  that  an  Antiochene 
Council,  held  some  sixty  years  previously,  had  condemned  the  use 
of  this  word ;  but  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  disapprobation 
of  the  seventy  fathers  was  pointed,  not  at  the  word,  but  at  the 
abuse  of  it  by  Paul  of  Samosata.  In  the  same  way  had  Tritheists 
first  employed  the  term  Trinity,  it  might  have  come  to  pass  that 
a  synod  would  have  rejected  that  expression.  "  Homoousion  " 
was  a  good  word  and  an  orthodox  word,  notwithstanding  that  for 
particular  reasons  it  had  once  been  thrown  aside,  and  the  Council 
of  Nicfea  had  ample  justification  for  its  course  in  adopting  it. 
^Notwithstanding,  much  of  the  opposition  which  the  new  formula 
encountered  was  in  reality  an  exhibition  of  dissatisfaction  with  the 
word  chosen,  and  not  a  denial  of  the  truth  which  was  intended  to 
be  enshrined  in  the  phrase  "  Of  one  substance  with  the  Father." 
Does  this  prove  that  the  selection  was  ill-judged?  Not  till  some 
demonstration  has  been  offered  of  the  superior  merits  and  greater 
acceptability  of  some  other  word :  till  such  time  as  this  has  been 
shown,  we  may  allowably  indulge  ourselves  in  the  belief  that  no 
other  phraseology  would  have  at  once  fulfilled  all  the  require- 
ments of  the  case,  and  met  with  less  opposition  from  those  who 
were  correct  in  their  theology.  If  in  litigation  it  is  desirable  to 
reach  a  statement  upon  which  the  two  parties  can  join  issue  with 


112  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

a  view  to  trying  the  ease  upon  its  merits,  the  word  Homoousion 
surely  was  well  chosen ;  for,  he  who  denied  that  Father  and  Son 
were  of  one  suhstance  manifestly  held  that  the  latter  was  inferior 
in  respect  of  essential  being,  and  therefore,  however  he  might 
reline  and  ratiocinate,  not  really  divine.  Arius  and  Eusebius 
would  doubtless  have  preferred  the  insertion  of  some  other  word ; 
but  would  that  preference  have  been  attributable  to  a  desire  for  a 
union  based  upon  truth,  or  to  a  wish  that  they  might  be  permitted 
to  remain  in  communion  without  renouncing  a  deadly  error  which 
they  were  resolved  to  retain?  Their  actions  from  first  to  last 
exclude  the  former  supposition. 

The  unlearned  are  apt  to  be  a  little  startled  upon  first  hearing 
that  the  barrier  between  the  orthodox  and  unorthodox  was  nothing 
more  than  a  matter  of  a  single  vowel.  AVith  what  cannot  be 
characterized  as  a  strong  regard  for  fairness,  some  persons  of 
sophistical  turn  are  fond  of  reiterating  that  the  protracted  debate, 
the  lasting  and  bitter  conflict,  the  sad  disturbance  of  Christian 
peace  were  caused  by  an  insignificant  iota.  The  Orthodox,  we  ai*e 
to  understand,  very  stubbornly  and  uncharitably  misused  their 
advantage  of  numbers  to  gratify  their  dislike  for  the  iota  in  the 
word  Ilomoiousion,  which  means  of  like  snhstance.  What  fanat- 
ical philologists  must  those  grave  fathers  have  been !  The  most 
learned  and  ablest  men  of  the  age,  men  who  had,  almost  to  a  man, 
braved  torture  and  death  fur  their  faith,  who  were  many  of  them 
nearly  at  the  goal  of  their  earthly  course,  giving  loose  rein  to 
hoary-headed  fully,  rent  the  Christian  world  into  fragments  be- 
cause of  one  letter  of  a  single  word !  Strange  inflituation  !  Who 
does  not  instinctively  revert  to  those  solemn  words  of  Ilim  who 
spake  as  never  man  spake :  "  One  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise 
pass  from  the  law  till  all  be  fulfilled,"  remembering  that  jot  is  the 
Hebrew  letter  (yod)  corresponding  to  the  Greek  iota.  Nay! 
This  tremendous  struggle  was  not  about  words  at  all :  it  was  a 
contest  which  laid  hold  upon  the  very  Mercy-seat  within  the  veil. 
The  venerable  council  did  not  shield  the  Homoousion  wnth  the 
liirhtninir  of  a  riljchteous  indi<z:nation,  because  thev  disliked  an  iota, 
but  because  that  trifling  scratch  of  a  pen  made  the  same  havoc  as 
an  equally  inconsiderable  efifort  of  a  scribe  might  at  the  end  of 
God.  If  the  addition  of  an  .<?  can  change  worship  into  idolatry, 
let  us  not  ridicule  those  holy  bishops  if  they  were  very  strenuous 
opponents  of  an  i. 


COUNCIL  OF  NIC^A.  113 

"We  have  said  that  the  Father  is  not  one  god  and  the  Son 
another,  but  that  each  is  whole  and  entire  God :  does  it  not  fol- 
low, as  a  logical  conclusion,  that  the  two  are  in  eifect  but  one, 
Father  and  Son  being  merely  different  names  given  under  vary- 
ing circumstances  ?  We  reply,  that  no  such  consequence  ensues 
at  all :  it  would  inevitably  ensue  were  finite  natures  being  dis- 
cussed, but  here  the  question  is  concerning  a  nature  which  is  not 
conditioned  in  time  and  space,  not  divisible  and  limitable,  not 
subjected  to  any  of  the  embarrassments  of  matter.  Wlien  we 
assert  that  the  Father  and  the  Son  are  both  the  same  God,  we  do 
not  fall  into  Sabellianism,  as  Eusebius  upon  the  same  ground 
falsely  charged  Eustathius  of  Antioch  with  doing,  for  we  as  firmly 
maintain  the  distinction  of  personality  as  we  do  identity  of  essence ; 
and  while  we  teach  that  the  separate  persons  are  the  same  God, 
we  hold  that  they  are  persons,  and  not  mere  manifestations ^  that 
they  possess  different  characteristics  and  exercise  diverse  functions ; 
that  they  are  so  far  distinct  from  one  another  that  they  can  con- 
verse together,  interchange  emotion,  and  commune  in  the  highest 
sense  of  that  word.  Does  an  objector  reply  that  all  this  is  absurd, 
that  a  being  cannot  at  once  be  the  same  as  another  and  yet  differ- 
ent ?  It  is  fitting  to  rejoin  that  it  is  not  absurd  at  all,  that  many 
things  on  earth  are  identical  in  one  sense,  and  yet  different  in 
another,  and  that  we  do  not  say  that  the  Father  and  the  Son  are 
identical  in  the  same  sense  in  which  they  are  distinguished.  Let 
the  doubting  man  of  science  cast  his  ray  of  white  sunlight  upon 
the  prism,  and,  proceeding  to  his  spectral  analysis,  classify  the 
resultant  rays  into  those  of  light,  of  heat,  and  of  chemical  action, 
and  then  inform  us  whence  came  those  three  distinct  classes  if  not 
from  that  unresolved  beam  of  pure  whiteness  ;  and  further  instruct 
us  whether  he  can  produce  the  photographic  effect  with  the  red 
ray,  or  gather  heat  from  those  which  are  actinic.  Light,  heat,  and 
electricity  are  not  at  all  the  same  thing,  their  properties  being 
extremely  diverse,  and  yet  all  three  are  supposed  to  be  little  more 
than  varying  phenomena  of  the  same  substance,  slightly  diversified 
wave  motion  of  one  imponderable  ether.  Man's  mind  is  said  to 
possess  many  different  faculties,  though  nothing,  perhaps,  is  more 
universally  agreed  upon  than  that  these  are  only  ]}hases  of  one 
indivisible  soul ;  Perception,  Reason,  Judgment,  Love,  Hatred, 
Yolition  not  being  distinct  from  each  other  as  hand,  and  foot,  and 
eye,  but  rather  the  self-adaptive  action  of  a  single  organ  modifying 


114  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

itself  according  to  circumstances,  just  as  smoothness  and  warmth 
are  felt  by  the  same  sense  of  touch  variously  applied.  These 
analogies,  partly  favoring  the  orthodox  view,  partly  countenancing 
the  unorthodox  explanations,  are  not  to  be  mistaken  for  argu- 
ments :  their  use  is  to  assist  us  in  attempting  to  frame  conceptions 
of  the  matter  under  investigation.  The  Bible,  which  we  maintain 
to  be  God's  own  utterance,  reveals  to  us  the  two  contradictory  {ap- 
^ar^?;??*/// contradictory)  statements;  on  the  one  side,  that  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost  are  all  possessed  of  one  indivisible  and  unex- 
tended  essence  ;  on  the  other,  that  there  exist  in  the  Godhead  three 
personal  Beings,  distinct  as  all  individuals  must  be,  not  aspects  nor 
manifestations,  buti)erson8;  somewhat  i)erhaps  as  though  Intellect, 
Emotion,  and  Volition,  in  man,  were  separated  and  erected  into 
individual  existence ;  each  possessing  his  own  characteristics,  and 
not  at  all  to  be  confounded  with  the  others.  If  the  logician 
adopts  the  former  proposition  and  treats  it  according  to  his  rules, 
he  arrives  sjieedily  and  irresistibly  at  Sabellianism,  or  the  belief 
that  the  so-called  i)ersonalities  are  mere  modes ;  whereas  if,  pre- 
ferring the  latter,  he  proceeds  in  a  similar  manner,  he  will  soon 
make  port  either  in  Tritheism  with  its  three  gods,  or  else  in  Arian- 
ism  or  its  kindred  errors,  with  its  solitary  unipei-sonal,  lonely  Deity 
and  created  Christ.  There  seems  no  stopping-place,  no  harbor  of 
refuire,  in  either  case,  short  of  the  destinations  mentioned.  What 
then  ?  Must  a  man,  with  childlike  confidence,  put  his  hand  in 
that  of  the  pedagogue,  Logic,  and  follow  implicitly  his  guidance? 
If  he  does,  he  will  not  escape  peri^lexity  among  the  Antinomies ; 
he  will  be  led  into  a  labyrinth,  and  then  deserted  by  his  guide. 
Logic  is  etpially  capable  of  proving  that  matter  is  infinitely  divisi- 
ble, and  that  it  is  not  so ;  since,  on  the  one  hand,  you  cannot  con- 
ceive an  atom  so  small  that  it  cannot  be  cut  into  halves,  nor,  on 
the  other,  can  you  admit  the  possibility  of  prolonging  this  process 
endlessly,  without  ascribing  infinitude  to  matter :  here  Logic  gives 
up  in  despair  and  flees  from  his  votaries,  leaving  them  on  the 
verge  of  madness.  Logic  knows  little  awe ;  it  can  demonstrate 
the  impossibility  of  an  existence  which  had  no  beginning :  there- 
fore it  is  atheistic.  Logic,  when  studying  human  nature,  ad- 
vances with  steady  step  and  courageous  heart,  on  one  road  to 
Calvinism,  and  with  not  less  assured  pace,  on  another  highway  to 
Pelagianism;  which  conclusions  are  mutually  destructive.  It 
behooves  us,  then,  to  seek  a  level  far  below  that  of  Logic,  one 


COUNCIL  OF  NIC^A.  115 

Avhcreiipon  our  footing  may  be  truly  stable.  One  of  the  greatest 
needs  of  the  thinking  world,  a  want  which  is  brought  clearly 
before  ns  in  the  present  instance  as  a  necessity  of  the  theological 
world,  is  a  ^ound  pliilosojjhy.  In  nothing  shines  forth  more  beau- 
tifully the  transcendent  glory  of  God's  Church  than  that  she, 
through  divine  guidance,  took  her  stand  upon  the  only  tenable 
principles  of  philosophy  ages  before  the  Kantian  and  Scotch 
schools  had  begun  to  work  their  way  towards  them.  The  proper 
method  of  philosophizing  is  not  to  begin  at  one  extreme  and 
advance  indefinitely  from  that  with  the  measured  tread  of  ratio- 
cination, but  to  start  simultaneous  from  both  extremes,  and  strive 
diligently  for  as  thorough  a  parallelism  or  coincidence  of  the  two 
lines  uf  thought  as  may  be  attainable.  Logicians  are  prone  to 
reject  as  ahsiird  what  is  not  absurd  at  all,  except  to  those  who 
look  on  the  surface.  Of  two  apparently  contradictory  theses,  both 
have  been  unanswerably  proved  time  and  again,  and  not  infre- 
quently a  satisfactory  reconcilement  has  been  attained  after  patient 
waiting.  What  is  really,  and  finally,  and  evidently  ojjposed  to 
reason  must  be  rejected,  but  not  what  is  obscure  only  because  too 
high  or  too  deep  to  be  reached  by  finite  powers.  If  caution 
attends  the  steps  of  a  wise  man  when  exploring  terrestrial  regions, 
how  much  more  does  he  need  such  a  monitor  when  roving  afar 
off  into  the  difficult  passes  of  divinity !  Is  our  knowledge  of  the 
Eternal  Nature  so  great  that  we  can  venture  to  pronounce  upon 
its  capabilities?  Are  our  conceptions  regarding  it  so  clear  that 
we  dare  affirm  that  the  trine  personality  in  one  indivisible  sub- 
stance is  irreconcilably  hostile  to  them  ?  Affirmative  replies  .to 
these  interrogatories  can  safely  be  made  by  no  one  who  has  not 
pondered  them  long,  patiently,  and  prayerfully.  A  supercilious 
dismissal  of  these  questions  is  rash  in  the  extreme.  Our  business 
in  the  great  question  of  the  Consubstantiality,  is  to  accept  the 
various  dogmatic  statements  of  the  Bible  and  the  Church,  ac- 
knowledge that,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  we  must  be  incapa- 
ble of  comprehending  them,  systematize  them  as  well  as  we  can, 
and  when  we  have  ascended  as  high  as  our  wings  will  support  us, 
humbly  terminate  our  investigations  with  the  self-reminder  that 
the  unreconciled  is  not  by  any  means  equivalent  to  the  unrecon- 
cilable. 

One  additional  point  of  doctrine  needs  to  be  adjusted.     We 
are  taught  that  three  persons  are  perfectly  and  absolutely  divine. 


116  TUE  CnURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

each  of  them  possessing  the  eternal  substance  of  deitj.  Are 
these  persons  in  all  respects  equal  ?  we  naturally  ask  ourselves. 
Reason  assures  us  that  all,  boini;  infinite  in  power  and  wisdom, 
and  equally  eternal,  must  be  far  removed  from  all  distinctions 
of  su])erior  and  inferior ;  and  Revelation  corroborates  this  testi- 
mony by  ascribing  equal  glory  to  the  three  divine  Persons.  Yet 
a  most  important  difference  is  noticeable,  in  that  one  only  of  the 
three  has  the  divine  essence  of  Himself,  the  others  deriving  that 
same  essence  from  Ilim  through  Generation  or  Procession.  The 
Father  alone  being  unoriginated,  derives  from  that  fact  a  certain 
superiority  of  prerogative,  a  priority,  not  of  existence,  but  of 
order.  All  the  three  Persons  are  equal  in  nature,  but  to  the 
Father  belongs  such  priority  that  lie  can  ])ropcrly  exercise  au- 
thority' towards  the  Second  Person  of  the  Trinity  of  such  a  kind 
that  it  would  be  inconceivable  as  exerted  by  the  Son  towards 
His  Father,  as,  for  example,  of  sending  upon  a  mission.  This, 
which  has  variously  been  named  the  doctrine  "  DeSuboi'dinatione 
Filii  "  or  that  "  De  Monarchia"  (1%  ^lovapxiar)^  is  a  vital  one,  in- 
asmuch as  without  it  we  cannot  support  the  Unity  of  God,  for,  as 
soon  as  two  underived  essences  are  allowed,  we  have  two  inde- 
pendent gods.  Having  been  the  teaching  of  the  Church  from  the 
beginning,  as  Bishops  Pearson  and  V>\\\\  evince  by  a  copious 
citation  of  authorities,  it  was  incorporated  in  the  "God  of  God, 
Light  r/ Light,  Very  God  r/"  (from)  "Very  God"  of  theNicene 
Creed,  and  in  the  "Who  procecdcth  from  the  Father"  of  the 
enlarged  formula  which  was  set  forth  by  the  First  Council  of 
Constant iiioplo;  and  formulated,  defined,  and  defended  by  the  re- 
doubtable Athamisius.  This  tenet,  again,  cannot  be  received  into 
the  convictions  without  a  resolute  bending  of  the  stubborn  and 
fractious  will,  a  humble  confession  of  the  inability  of  the  finite 
intellect  to  gra])[)le  with  the  mystery,  and  a  reverential  regard  for 
the  uttered  voice  of  God ;  but  some  help  may  be  derived  by  such 
as  have  not  closed  their  minds  against  conviction,  from  the  very 
simple  reflection  that  a  son  is  not  necessarily  inferior"  to  his 
father ;  for,  though  the  second  Pitt  possibly  was  so  and  Sir  John 
Herschel,  Alexander  the  Great  was  not,  nor  evidently  are  the 
great  majority  of  distinguished  men :  they  owe  their  parents  the 
respect  due  from  children,  and  yet  may  be  their  equals  in  every 
other  way. 

If  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  repugnant  to  the  human  in- 


COUNCIL  OF  mCJSA.  117 

tellect,  we  cannot  but  wonder  that  the  mind  of  man,  ignorant  of 
the  mystery  and  nnable  to  discover  it,  is  always  reaching  out 
after  it.  The  leading  mythologies  of  the  world,  at  all  events, 
have  vibrated  between  unity  and  tritheism,  finding  a  permanent 
resting-place  for  the  soles  of  their  feet  nowhere ;  swinging  now 
towards  the  grand  central  conception  of  One  God,  then  seemingly 
becoming  gradually  more  sensible  of  repulsion  from  the  unutter- 
able loneliness  of  a  Being  who  can  have  no  satisfying  communion 
with  any  other  because  all  are  so  very  far  below  Him,  until  a  re- 
coil manifests  itself  in  associating  other  gods  with  Ilim  in  a  great 
Olympus  or  Walhalla:  now,  however,  antagonisms  arise  and 
impel  irresistibly  the  natural  lover  of  unity  and  harmony  back  to 
some  awful,  overruling  Shape,  almost  too  remote  and  vague  for 
personality.  This  process  continues.  Jupiter  is  the  supreme  god, 
and  then  he  is  not.  Neptune  and  Pluto  share  his  dominion,  only 
that  all  three  may  succumb  to  an  inscrutable  Destiny,  which  has 
scarcely  assumed  its  icy  seat,  before  the  three  Fates  usurp  its 
place,  but  only  that  the  iron-handed  monarch  should  immediately 
reappear  in  more  impenetrable  darkness.  Brahma,  too,  never 
knows  how  long  before  Vishnu  and  Siva  will  divide  with  him 
the  allegiance  of  the  unstable  Hindoo,  who,  like  the  Greek  and 
Homan,  can  strike  out  of  his  religious  faith  neither  the  unity  of 
God  nor  His  threefoldness,  and  forever  strives  in  vain  to  reconcile 
what  to  him  must  remain  antagonistic  cravings.  Nor  does  the 
Scandinavian  heaven  contain  any  god  who  can  boast  an  undis- 
puted sway.  Zoroastrianism  was  unitarian  before  it  became 
dualistic.  In  short,  the  awful  solitude  of  an  unipersonal  God  is 
to  the  last  degree  repulsive  and  intolerable:  men  reject  it  in- 
stinctively, unconsciously,  invincibly.  Even  Dualism  is  more 
attractive,  if  it  be  less  logical ;  but  Dualism,  even  were  the  two 
gods  on  terms  of  friendship,  would  not  satisfy  the  requirements 
of  the  problem.  The  worshiper  would  feel  himself  excluded. 
Two  equal  beings  removed  from  the  universe  by  the  whole  dis- 
tance between  the  Creator  and  what  His  fiat  has  evoked,  would 
not  be  lonely,  we  must  admit ;  but  the  natural  exclusiveness 
of  such  a  relationship  is  perceived  to  warn  oflf  intruders.  Who 
dare  disturb  them  with  representations  of  his  needs  ?  Who  could 
hope  to  divert  towards  himself  one  little  ray  of  the  mutually- 
absorbed  love  ?  Evidently  a  third  must  be  equal  partner  with 
the  two,  in  order  that  within  the  enlarged  circle  of  sympathy  any 


118  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

inferior  being  may  entertain  the  expectation  of  obtaining  a  wel- 
come admission.  Under  the  shadow  of  such  a  throne,  we  may 
seek  refuge,  provided  the  divine  Three  are  tlioroughly  in  accord. 
Father  and  Son  having  as  their  copartner  the  Eternal  Spirit,  we 
feel  that  the  love  which  passes  back  and  forth  among  the  Three 
can  easily  extend  itself  to  the  creature ;  but  then  we  would  be 
tritheists,  and  soon  fall  to  dreading  the  contentions  of  the  awful 
Beings  whom  we  worshiped,  had  it  not  been  revealed  to  us  that 
the  Three  are,  as  they  must  be  seeing  that  Deity  cannot  be  ap- 
portioned, three  Persons  constituting  one  Godhead.  What,  there- 
fore, the  instinctive  cravings  of  our  God-created  hearts  have  al- 
ways striven  after, — what  they  have  sought,  but  could  not  find, 
— that  has  Revelation  given  us.  Thus  is  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  shown  to  be  true,  unless  man  himself  is  one  enormous 
lie.     Perish  the  blasphemous  thought ! 

Thus  the  Nicene  Council  thoroughly  committed  itself  to  three 
immensely  important  doctrines,  which  are  worthy  of  enumeration  : 
Ist.  That  of  the  Eternal  Generation  of  the  Son,  '•  Begotten  of  his 
Father  before  all  worlds ; "  2d.  That  of  the  Consubstantiality  of  the 
Word,  "  Of  one  substance  with  the  Father;"  and,  3d.  That  of  the 
Monarchy  of  the  Father,  or  of  the  Subordination  of  the  Son,  "  God 
of  God,  Light  of  Light,  Very  God  of  Very  God,"  These  were 
contained  in  the  creed  adopted  bv  the  assembly  and  then  sub- 
scribed  by  each  member  of  it,  with  the  exception  of  two  who 
proved  invincibly  recalcitrant.  Other  matters  were  deliberated 
upon,  the  Quartodccinian  controversy  being  decided  in  favor  of 
those  whose  custom  it  was  to  celebrate  tlie  Festival  of  Easter  upon 
the  nearest  Sunday  to  the  Passover,  instead  of  upon  the  third  day 
therefrom,  whatever  day  of  the  week  that  might  happen  to  be; 
a  proposed  law  of  enforced  clerical  celibacy  being  averted  from 
the  Church  by  the  courage  and  forecast  of  one  man,  the  muti- 
lated Paphnutius,  himself  unmarried ;  the  Meletian  schism  being 
also  disposed  of  by  suitable  legislation ;  and  a  few  other  affairs 
settled.  All  these,  however,  were  not  of  sufficient  moment  to 
delay  us  longer  in  our  haste  to  trace  out  the  further  history  of 
Arianism. 

Immediately  we  begin  to  lose  ourselves  in  a  maze  of  political 
intrigue,  whence  we  extncate  our  feet  at  last,  thoroughly  satisfied 
that  what  advantages  from  its  union  with  the  State  were  reaped 
by  the  Church  at  the  time  of  the  great  Council,  deserve  to  be  for- 


COUNCIL  OF  mCJEA.  119 

gotten  amid  the  accumulation  of  disasters  speedily  inflicted  upon 
her  by  the  conversion  of  the  throne  to  Arianism.  As  we  shall  see, 
the  sovereigns  showed  little  reserve  in  advocating  their  own  views 
through  the  instrumentalities  which  promised  to  be  most  efficient. 
Solemn  assemblies  were  called  by  them,  and  then  kept  in  durance 
and  under  terrorism  until  consent  to  the  imperial  projects  had  been 
wrung  from  them ;  bishops  were  driven  from  their  sees,  banished, 
condemned  to  death,  tortured  ;  the  faithful,  in  indiscriminate  mass, 
were  visited  with  princely  anger  and  smitten  with  a  heavy  hand, 
besides  being  coaxed  and  tricked  into  appearing  to  approve  what 
their  hearts  detested ;  till  it  came  to  pass,  after  the  Council  of 
Rimini,  that  the  whole  world,  according  to  St.  Jerome,  groaning, 
stood  astonished  at  finding  itself  Arian.  The  rays  of  orthodoxy 
shone  dimly  through  the  smoke  and  dust  of  the  conflict,  so  that 
its  bewildei'ed  troops  could  hardly  distinguish  their  own  colors. 
The  sheep  had  admitted  the  wolf  when  lie  was  lavish  of  his  prom- 
ises, and  now  felt  themselves  very  much  at  his  merc3^  ISTero  or 
Diocletian  might  terrify  and  slaughter  Christians,  but  would  never 
undertake  to  transform  them  into  Gnostics ;  Constantine  and  his 
sons  threatened  the  very  life  of  Christianity  by  striking  at  the 
Truth  from  within  the  walls  which  had  been  built  to  protect  it. 
The  peril  of  the  Church  at  this  crisis  was,  if  our  principles  be  ad- 
mitted, most  imminent.  Look  at  the  epoch  of  the  twin  councils 
at  Selencia  and  Rimini,  when  East  and  West  had  both,  in  regular 
conclave,  cast  out  the  Homoousion  and  virtually  declared  in  favor 
of  heresy,  and  when  the  difierent  provincial  churches  retained  so 
little  freedom  that  they  had  no  facilities  for  proclaiming  their  dis- 
sent from  the  action  of  those  two  halves  of  a  General  Council. 
From  the  unwelcome  sight  one  turns  with  palpitating  heart,  and 
with  profound  gratitude  to  the  Almighty  King  whose  merciful 
interposition  rescued  His  kingdom  from  the  fearful  danger  to  which 
its  own  folly  and  faithlessness  had  exposed  it. 

Constantine,  congratulating  himself  upon  the  admirable  results 
of  his  policy  in  summoning  the  Nicene  Synod,  was  doubtless 
greatly  irritated  at  first  by  the  opposition  to  its  decrees  shown  by 
the  Eusebian  faction.  Beginning  with  a  vigorous  attempt  to  put 
down  Arianism  by  the  strong  hand,  he  ended  with  diverting  his 
wrath  from  the  followers  of  the  heresiarch  to  Athanasius  and  his 
adherents,  and  setting  on  foot  severe  measures  tending  towards 
the   suppression  of  Orthodoxy.     The   means  by  which   he  was 


120  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  F.UTH. 

brought  over,  whether  through  the  influence  of  his  sister  Con- 
stant ia,  who,  upon  her  death-bed,  recommended  to  his  favor  an 
Arian  presbyter,  or  througli  the  machinations  of  his  favorite 
Eusebius,  concerns  us  much  less  than  tlie  consequences  produced 
thereby,  among  the  most  noteworthy  of  which  were  the  banisli- 
ment  from  the  three  chief  bishoprics  of  tlieir  occupants,  Athana- 
sius,  Eustathius,  and  Paul,  to  make  way  for  heterodox  incumbents, 
and  the  recall  of  Arius  and  the  other  Eusebius.  Arius  did  not 
long  survive  his  triumph,  which  indeed  was  never  consummated, 
accident,  or  the  course  of  nature,  or  perhaps  Divine  providence, 
removing  him  from  the  world  he  had  so  long  troubled  at  the  very 
moment  when  his  proud  heart  throbl)ed  at  beholding  victory  within 
his  reach.  The  royal  mandate  had  bidden  Alexander,  patriarch 
of  Constantinople,  to  admit  the  arch-lieretic  to  communion.  Atha- 
nasius,  like  Ambrose,  would  have  positively  refused  to  obey  such 
an  impious  command ;  but  Alexander  saw  no  road  but  that  of 
submission.  "While  the  aged  prelate  prayed  within  his  church  on 
the  eve  of  the  day  wliich  was  to  ^vitness  its  desecration  unless 
some  unlooked-for  deliverance  should  come,  Arius  was  parading 
the  streets  with  his  friends.  The  heretic  is  checked  in  his  marcli 
by  a  sudden  call  of  nature,  and  never  returns  to  his  place  in  the 
line.  Was  lie  poisoned,  or  was  he  smitten  by  the  rod  of  Almighty 
indignation  ?  True  believers  will  always  ex'perience  difficulty  in 
shaking  olf  the  impression  made  upon  their  minds  by  the  sudden- 
ness, wretchedness,  and  opportuneness  of  liis  death,  combined  with 
the  strange  fiict  that  three  at  least  of  the  Truth's  greatest  foes 
have  perished  by  horrible  disease  of  one  particular  part  of  the 
body.  Says  Sozomen,  in  quaint  language :  "  With  all  men  life 
terminates  in  death.  We  must  not  blame  a  man,  even  if  he  be  an 
enemy,  merely  because  he  died,  for  it  is  uncertain  wliether  we 
shall  live  till  the  evening."  Neither,  then,  may  we  blame  a  man  for 
writing  his  own  creed  on  paper,  and  putting  it  under  his  arm  when 
he  goes  to  take  oath  that  he  believes  a  particular  formula ;  but  most 
persons  will  insist  that  the  action  is  at  least  suspicious,  especially 
in  case  his  declaration  should  be  couched  in  such  phraseology  as : 
"  I  do  solemnly  swear  that  I  hold  the  sentiments  which  are  written." 
However  we  may  decide  this  point,  the  Church  was  well  rid  of  the 
deceased,  and  may  without  impropriety  have  congratulated  herself 
that  she  had  been  saved  from  a  great  disgrace,  and  thanked  her 
Lord  for  so  ordering  events  as  to  remove  him  from  the  stage  at 


COUNCIL  OF  mC^A.  121 

that  precise  moment.  "Whether  the  story  which  Socrates  reports, 
upon  hearsay,  concerning  the  Jesuitical  subscription  be  true, 
whether  the  extraordinary  death  of  the  man  be  scarcely  less  sig- 
nificant  tlian  what  the  Scriptures  relate  about  Ananias  and  his 
wife,  or  not,  a  great  disturber  of  the  Church's  peace  was  silenced 
forever. 

Constantine  soon  after,  obedient  to  the  summons  which  ap- 
proaches monarchs  as  well  as  slaves,  resigned  his  sceptre  to  his 
three  sons,  of  whom  the  one  who  eventually  encircled  his  own 
brows  with  an  undivided  diadem,  Constantius,  was  a  staunch 
Arian.  The  twenty-three  years  of  his  reign  were  a  dark  day  for 
the  IS'icene  Christians.  Frequent  synods  in  the  East  employed 
themselves  in  drawing  up  new  formulifi,  in  which,  while  they  did 
not  openly  impugn  the  IIomodusio?i,  they  took  care  to  state  the 
faith  in  terms  less  hostile  to  the  errors  of  the  Arians ;  in  condemn- 
ing and  ejecting  the  champions  of  Nicaea  as  holding  Sabellian 
notions  which  they  actually  abominated ;  and  in  creating  new 
prelates  from  the  most  violent  assailants  of  the  Orthodox  Creed. 
The  West,  stauncher  by  far  than  the  Orient,  stood  manfully,  with 
true  Roman  courage  and  iidelity,  around  the  standard  which 
Athanasius  had  prevailed  upon  the  Great  Council  to  plant.  From 
Sardica  a  trumpet  shout  rang  through  the  empire  reaffirming  the 
Homoousion  and  the  Eternal  Generation.  At  Eimini,  on  the 
coast  of  the  Adriatic,  four  hundred  bishops  of  the  West  assembled, 
while  those  of  the  East  gathered  at  Selencia  in  Isauria,  the  em- 
peror having  concluded  that  convenience  and  economy  would  both 
be  promoted  by  convening  the  two  continents  in  separate  bodies. 
The  conclave  at  Rimini  spoke  with  startling  distinctness,  pro- 
novmcing  with  abhorrence  against  all  schemes  of  altering  the 
IS'icene  foi-mula,  and  rejecting  as  an  abomination  the  proposition 
of  Ursacius,  Yalens,  and  the  Arian  minority  to  drop  the  distaste- 
ful word  for  the  sake  of  peace.  It  is  saddening  to  think  how  the 
frailty  of  sinful  humanity  was  wrought  upon,  through  that  device 
of  tyranny,  a  protracted  session  with  compulsory  attendance,  in- 
volving exile  from  home,  enforced  inactivity,  and  exposure  to 
intimidation,  urgent  persuasion,  and  other  undue  influences,  till 
the  majority  yielded  the  point,  and  departed  to  their  homes  under 
the  reproach  of  having  lent  countenance  to  falsehood. 

The  philosophical  indifference  of  Julian  withdrew  from  a  rest- 
less faction  the  support  accorded  by  the  government  in  his  prede- 


122  TEJ:  CnURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

cesser's  reign.  Jovian  imitated  tine  tolerance  of  the  Apostate. 
Then  came  Valentinian  and  Yalens,  dividing  the  vast  territory 
between  them.  It  happened,  unfortunately,  that  the  Goths,  af- 
frighted and  dismayed  by  the  advance  of  the  uncouth  barbaric 
tribes  of  Huns,  opened  a  negotiation  with  the  emperor  Yalens ; 
for  he,  being  a  pronounced  Arian,  dispatched  missionaries  of  that 
persuasion,  and  among  them  the  celebrated  Ulphilas,  to  introduce 
Christianity  among  these  new  feudatories  of  the  empire.  Thus 
it  came  to  pass  that  the  barbarians,  who  soon  spread  themselves 
over  the  extended  domains  of  Eome  in  Europe  and  Northern 
Africa,  adhered  to  that  perverted  form  of  religion  wliich  claimed 
Arius  as  its  progenitor.  Had  it  not  been  for  this  untoward  cir- 
cumstance Arianism  would  have  been  hard  pushed  for  an  asylum 
after  Theodosias,  a  zealous  Athanasian,  upon  ascending  the 
throne,  had  deprived  that  sect  of  its  churches,  and  enacted 
severe  laws,  withdrawing  their  civil  rights  from  those  who  clung 
to  the  heresy,  and  affixing  to  them  the  stigma  of  social  excom- 
munication. 

The  centrifugal  force  which  had  torn  Arius  and  his  followers 
from  the  orbits  in  which  they  sliould  have  revolved  around  the 
centre  of  ecclesiastical  unity,  would  not  suffer  them  to  describe 
ellipses  about  the  newly  chosen  foci  without  serious  perturbation. 
Like  otiier  forces  of  disruption,  heresy  does  not  always  submit  to 
be  checked  just  at  that  mark  which  would  best  conform  to  the 
intentions  of  those  who  set  it  in  motion.  He  who  teaches  men  to 
nmtiny  in  order  that  he  may  lead  them  whither  he  will,  has  taught 
them  a  lesson  which  they  and  he  will  remember  in  the  hour  of 
their  dissatisfaction  with  his  leadership.  He  who  sets  the  exam- 
ple of  obstinate  adherence  to  a  favorite  theory  against  authority 
which  all  are  bound  to  respect,  and  in  spite  of  proof  which  ought 
to  convince  any  intelligent  mind,  has,  without  anticipating  such 
an  unpleasant  consequence,  established  a  precedent  which  will 
justify  his  own  bolder  spirited  followers  in  pushing  that  theory  to 
extremes  he  himself  shuns  and  abhors.  Such  an  unbridled  soul 
was  the  skeptical  Aetius,  whose  impious  tenets  won  for  him  the 
surname  of  Atheist.  He  caiTied  his  speculations  concerning  the 
Son's  Generation  to  the  length  of  maintaining  that  it  was  a  mere 
creation,  and  took  place  in  time;  and  with  respect  to  His  Sub- 
stance argued,  as  consistency  required  him  to  do,  that  it  was  in  no 
respect  like  that  of  the  Father,  being  separated  from  His  by  the 


COUNCIL  OF  NIC^A.  123 

whole  distance  which  divides  the  creature  from  the  Creator.  How 
Arius  himself  stopped  short  of  these  Wasphemous  doctrines,  hav- 
ing once  intrusted  himself  to  the  impetuous  stream  of  Logical 
Deduction,  we  need  not  trouble  ourselves  to  inquire;  but  we  cer- 
tainly ought  to  accord  Aetius  the  praise  of  having  been  an  able 
and  acute  reasoner,  and  subtile  and  powerful  advocate,  and  a 
fi-ank  and  fearless  speaker.  He  and  his  more  politic  disciple, 
Euuomius,  did  not  lack  followers.  A  far  larger  proportion,  how- 
ever, of  those  who  found  themselves  outside  of  the  camp,  preferred 
to  range  themselves  on  the  other  flank,  where  waved  the  banner 
of  Eusebius.  These  rejected  Generation,  and  yet  hardly  believed 
in  Creation ;  refused  to  accept  the  Eternity,  and  still  confessed 
that  the  Son  came  into  being  long  anterior  to  the  universe,  or  even 
the  angels ;  would  not  listen  to  the  Homoousion,  and  yet  allowed 
that  the  substance  of  the  Son  was  unlike  that  of  other  creatures 
and  similar  to  the  Father's.  Arius  himself  had  taken  high  ground, 
o-ivino-  to  our  Saviour  even  the  Incommunicable  Name  itself  in  a 
restricted  sense,  and  placing  Him  above  the  highest  archangel : 
the  Semi-Arians  strive  to  take  a  flight  even  above  this  position, 
and  labor  to  bring  the  adorable  Son  nearer  yet  in  honor,  power, 
and  essential  being  to  His  Father.  Why,  then,  it  may  be  asked, 
were  these  last,  if  none  others,  not  welcomed  back  into  the  Church 
by  throwing  open  the  gates  wide  enough  to  admit  their  standard  ? 
Because,  painfully  as  they  strained  their  limbs,  they  failed  to 
touch  that  after  which  they  reached;  because  they  who  reduce 
our  Lord  to  the  level  of  a  created  being,  however  much  they 
may  refine  upon  the  idea  of  creation,  as  really  dethrone  Him 
as  those  do  who  boldly  assert  that  He  was  created  since  time 
began;  and  because  all  who  detract  in  any  degree  from  the 
honor  due  to  Him  who  was  begotten,  in  time,  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  utterly  destroy  the  Christian  religion  as  far  as  it  lies  within 
their  power  to  affect  its  welfare,  consign  us  all  to  worse  than 
heathen  darkness,  and  remand  us  to  the  dungeon  of  despair. 

"Weakened  by  internal  dissensions,  dismayed  by  the  loss  of 
court  favor,  driven  out  among  the  barbarians,  Arianism  fell 
into  a  decline,  and  rapidly  disappears  from  the  page  of  history, 
passing,  a  century  or  two  later,  into  utter  oblivion,  from  which 
it  was,  however,  resuscitated,  a  thousand  years  afterward,  by 
Servetus  and  the  Socini,  who,  along  with  Bernardino  Ochino, 
gave  birth  to    Sociniauism,   Unitarianism,  and   the  other  forms 


124  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

of  modern  Arianism,  which  almost  perished  under  the  inexora- 
ble logic  of  those  incomparable  English  champions,  Bull,  Pear- 
son, and  Waterland,  illustrious  names !  loved  and  honored  by 
all  true  sons  of  the  Anglican  Reformation,  and  worthy  of  being 
inscribed  next  below  that  of  the  much-endmiug  hero  of  the 
Homociusion,  our  Great  Athanasius. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   FIRST   COUNCIL    OF    CONSTANTINOPLE. 

An  instructive  anecdote  is  told  bj  Theodoret  and  others. 
Ampliilocliius,  Bishop  of  Iconium,  having  a  certain  object  in 
view,  upon  entering  the  presence  of  Theodosius,  duly  saluted  the 
Emperor,  but  took  no  notice  of  his  son,  xVrcadius,  who  was  seated 
near  him,  and  had  recently  been  clothed  with  the  purple;  or,  as 
another  authority  has  it,  actually  patted  the  youth  on  the  head 
and  called  him  his  dear  child.  This  audacity  provoking  the  mon- 
arch's indignation,  he  ordered  the  presumptuous  prelate  to  be 
ignominiously  expelled  from  the  palace.  The  order  could  not, 
however,  be  executed  before  the  artful  bishop  had  suggested  the 
words  of  St.  Paul :  "  And  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father^  The 
offender  was  at  once  pardoned  and  received  into  favor,  as  he  well 
deserved  to  be,  after  having  lodged  in  the  imperial  breast  against 
Arian  dishonoring  of  God  the  Son  an  argument,  which  time  and 
change  served  only  to  establish  there  more  firmly.  It  is  a  pity  for 
the  dramatic  eflect  of  this  scene  that  Arius,  or,  at  least,  Eunomius, 
could  not  have  been  introduced  as  a  witness :  it  would  be  no 
mean  exercise  of  ingenuity  to  put  into  their  mouths  a  reply  that 
would  have  stood  them  in  any  stead. 

Among  those  that  arrayed  themselves  against  the  Council  of 
Nice  was  one  who,  upon  the  death  of  Alexander,  contended  with 
Paul  for  the  possession  of  the  archiepiscopal  throne  of  Constanti- 
nople, and  drew  down  upon  himself  such  detestation  on  account 
of  the  cruelties  perpetrated,  by  his  orders  or  through  his  con- 
nivance, at  the  time  of  his  accession,  that  he  was  finally  deposed. 
This  man,  Macedonius  by  name,  was  the  originator  of  a  new 
heresy.  It  is  plain  that  the  question  of  the  Homoousion  touches 
the  Third,  as  closely  as  it  does  the  Second,  Person  of  the  ever- 
blessed  Trinity.     At  first  the  discussions  did  not  extend  beyond 


126  THE  CBTJBCR  AXD   THE  FAITH. 

the  essence  of  the  Son,  the  Arians  seemingly  not  caring  to  divide 
the  attention  of  the  world  bv  introducino^  another  element  into 
the  debate,  and  the  Orthodox  most  gladly  refraining  from  throw- 
ing temptation  in  their  way ;  but  such  enlargement  of  the  con- 
troversy was  inevitable.  To  all  those  who  accepted  the  Catholic 
Faith  the  determination  of  Xica?a  covered  the  case  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  as  completely  as  that  of  the  Son,  for,  if  the  Second  Person 
of  the  Trinity  is  of  the  same  suhstiuice  as  the  First,  there  is  no 
imaginable  reason  why  the  Third  Person  should  not  be  so  like- 
wise. On  the  other  side,  the  question  would  be  an  open  one. 
When  the  Son  is  made  si7nilar  in  essence  to  His  Father,  the  Holy 
Ghost  will  probably  be  imagined  similar  only  to  the  former : 
still  he  may  be  put  on  a  par  with  Him,  the  same  degree  of  simi- 
larity being  allowed  to  both  ;  or  He  may  even  be  advanced  above 
Him,  as  would  seem  an  almost  irresistible  consequence  under  the 
execrable  doctrine  of  Aetius.  A  high  Arian  in  his  views  respect- 
ing the  Son  of  God,  whom  he  admitted  to  be  like  in  all  things  to 
the  Divine  Parent,  Macedonius  adopted  the  notions  of  Sabellius 
regarding  the  Holy  Ghost,  maintaining  tliat  He  has  no  proper 
individual  existence,  but  is  an  energy  or  influence  pervading  the 
world.  Nevertheless,  the  views  of  Macedonius  seem  to  have  fluc- 
tuated considerably,  turning  now  towards  the  one  pole  of  doctrine, 
and  now  towards  the  other;  as  was  very  natural  in  a  prelate  who, 
at  one  epocli  of  his  life,  courts  the  favor  of  the  Catholics,  and  at 
another  is  a  disgraced  fugitive  from  their  righteous  indignation. 
His  heresy  was  never  very  threatening.  Xo  Macedonians  are 
heard  of  in  the  West,  and  the  sect  expires  soon  after  it  has  effected 
the  one  good  it  was  calculated  to  bring  about,  the  rounding  of  the 
Nicene  Creed  by  the  addition  of  a  paragraph  concerning  the 
"  Lord  and  Giver  of  life."  The  Christian  world  always  will 
marshal  itself  in  hostile  ranks  about  the  great  question  of  the 
Eternal  Essence,  but  the  battle  seems  destined  to  be  fought  out 
on  the  ground  aflforded  by  the  revelation  of  an  incarnate  God, 
and  only  an  occasional  skirmisher  will  wander  off  into  the  less 
attractive,  and  less  accessible,  regions  of  speculation  about  the  sub- 
stance and  nature  of  the  Sanctifier. 

The  keen  and  self-confident  intellect  of  Arius  had  scaled  the 
loftiest  heights  of  theology.  If  the  work  of  irresponsible  ex-plo- 
ration  was  to  be  continued,  pioneers  must  content  themselves 
with  inferior  altitudes.     From  speculating  about  the  substance  of 


TEE  FIBST  COUNCIL   OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  127 

Deity,  an  easy  step  is  the  one  to  philosophizing  about  Incarnate 
Divinity.  It  being  granted  that  the  Son  of  God  always  was  per- 
fect God,  the  next  question  is,  Did  He  assume  perfect  humanity  ? 
His  flesh,  doubtless,  was  ordinary  human  flesh,  and  it  was  ani- 
mated by  a  soul  at  once  sensitive  and  rational ;  but  was  there  over 
and  above  these  the  third  part  of  man's  complex  nature,  the  intu- 
itional, immortal  part,  which  alone  is  strictly  spiritual  f  Is  it 
reasonable  to  believe  that  the  perfectly  excellent  essence  of  the 
Infinite  united  itself  with  an  inferior  spiritual  nature ;  that  the 
inflexible,  and  all-righteous,  and  absokitely  disinterested  Will  of 
God  bound  itself  by  the  ties  of  a  common  personality  with  the 
weak,  imperfect,  easily  biased  volition  of  the  creature?  AVhat 
need  was  there  of  such  an  alliance?  Was  not  the  innate  Divinity 
competent  to  fulfill  all  the  functions  of  the  higher  spiritual  nature  ? 
Must  not  the  indwelling  Divine  Substance,  indeed,  merge  into 
itself  all  other  spiritual  being  within  the  same  personality,  so  over- 
awing it  that  it  would  fall  upon  its  face  as  dead,  utterly  unable  to 
execute  one  single  office  ?  Such  reasoning  is  neither  without  force, 
nor  lacking  in  seductiveness ;  though  it  does  not  stop  where  we 
have  tried  to  stop  it,  but  properly,  when  once  admitted,  goes  on 
to  deny  the  Saviour  a  Soxil  as  well  as  a  Spirit,  the  true  and  effi- 
cient Will,  for  instance,  beins;  a  faeultv  rather  of  the  former  than  of 
the  latter.  Truly,  such  an  incarnate  God  would  not  be  incarnate 
at  all  in  the  sense  that  He  became  a  man  among  men,  experienced 
their  trials,  obeyed  their  law,  bore  their  sins,  and  died  their  death. 
He  would  be  God  tabernacled  in  flesh,  but  not  God  tabernacled  in 
manhood,  which  term  is  evidently  synonymous  with  flesh  in  such 
a  connection,  in  which  it  denotes  the  whole  human  organism,  of 
which  it  is  a  part  and  for  which  the  word  is  used  by  metonomy ; 
a  position  which  is  strengthened  by  the  consideration  that  it 
would  have  been  of  no  avail  that  He  should  become  flesh,  unless 
He  became  man  utterly.  The  first,  as  far  as  we  are  informed,  to 
preach  the  doctrine  to  which  we  allude  was,  strangely  enough,  an 
affdent  admirer  of  the  great  Athanasius,  and  had  once  enjoyed 
the  honor  of  intimate  association  with  that  illustrious  man  during 
a  stay  which  he  made  in  Laodicea  upon  one  of  his  innumerable 
journeys.  Disciples,  however,  very  frequently  fail  to  reflect  accu- 
rately the  doctrine  in  which  they  have  been  instructed.  It  often 
happens  that  distortions  of  a  system  are  caused  not  so  much  by 
perversity  of  intention  as  by  imperfectness  of  comprehension  or 


128  THE  CHURCH  AN^D   THE  FAITH. 

inaccuracy  of  memory.  ApolHnarius  of  Laodicea  displays  in  his 
conduct  none  of  tlie  qualities  that  belong  to  the  leader  of  heretics, 
unless  an  invincible  love  of  knowledge  be  numbered  among  them  : 
on  the  contrary,  when  he  had  been  very  harshly  treated  by  the 
weak  and  arrogant  George,  bishop  of  the  city,  he  meekly  continued 
to  implore  forgiveness  and  restoration,  till  the  inexorableness  of 
his  superior  drove  him  to  despair.  His  chief  fault  may  be  con- 
jectured to  have  been  a  too  exclusive  and  absorbing  pursuit  of 
secular  learning,  to  the  neglect  of  studies  more  suitable  and  neces- 
sary to  his  exalted  calling  ;  since  he  was  very  fond  of  the  Grecian 
classics,  incurred  the  episcopal  displeasure  by  attending  a  lecture 
of  the  sophist  Epiphanius,  and  invented  for  himself  a  theory  of 
the  Incarnation  which  pei'haps  betrays  too  great  familiarity  with 
mythological  fables  concerning  the  descent  of  gods  to  earth.  If 
a  Christian  priest  admires  and  studios  Homer  more  than  St.  John, 
he  may  become  a  composer  of  beautiful  hymns,  but  runs  a  fearful 
risk  of  bein*;  <?iven  over  to  the  delusions  in  which  he  revels. 

As  Apollinarius  is  said  not  to  have  admitted  any  fusion  or 
commingling  of  the  two  natures  in  Christ,  thus  rejecting  a  neces- 
sary deduction  from  what  he  certainly  did  hold,  it  is  proper  to 
inquire  how  fir  any  one,  and  especially  a  teacher,  is  to  be  held 
responsible  for  logical  inferences.  This  much-vexed  question 
allows,  if  we  are  not  greatly  mistaken,  of  a  very  simple  solution, 
based  upon  the  obvious  distinction  between  the  man  and  his 
belief.  The  impetuous  accuser  who  insists  that  the  founder  of  a 
new  sect  must  believe  everything  which  seems  to  flow,  as  a  logical 
sequence,  from  the  doctrines  he  proclaims,  is  bound  by  the  same 
reasoning  to  exonerate  him  altogether ;  because  if  a  man  must  be 
taken  to  hold  a  tenet  or  a  doctrine  merely  because  logic  deduces 
it,  then  must  he  be  wholly  incapable  of  falling  into  error,  inasmuch 
as  true  logic  never  can  become  the  pillar  and  buttress  of  falsehood. 
In  all  charity  and  fairness,  no  matter  what  glaring  inconsistencies 
may  lurk  in  any  one's  creed,  he  ought  not  to  be  held  accountable 
for  any  deductions  but  those  he  himself  draws.  With  respect  to 
the  new  theory  itself,  the  case  is  very  different.  That  theory, 
when  firmly  established  in  the  hearts  of  the  multitude,  becomes 
an  entity  as  much  as  if  it  were  real  flesh  and  blood,  and  will  be 
delivered  of  a  progeny.  Though  the  mastiff  wear  the  lion's  hide 
with  triumphant  art,  it  will  procreate  curs,  and  not  whelps.  When 
the  adder  is  abroad,  we  fatally  delude  ourselves  in  calling  it  a 


TEE  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  129 

harmless  garter-snake.  Therefore  the  theory  or  the  doctrine 
which  can  only  bring  forth  confusion,  immorality,  and  falsehood 
ought  to  be  treated  with  no  delicacy  whatever  by  those  whose 
hearts  yearn  for  the  welfare  of  Christendom,  but  be  freely  ex- 
posed and  forcibly  repressed  by  every  lawful  means.  Apollinarius 
is  not  to  be  accused  of  holding  what  he  distinctly  repudiated  ;  but 
ApoUinarianism  must  carry  the  weight  of  every  error  to  which  it 
gave  being,  or  towards  which  it  leaned. 

The  heresies  of  Macedonius  and  Apollinarius  required  au- 
thoritative answers,  having  risen  into  such  prominence  that  they 
seemed  to  tlireaten  the  very  life  of  Orthodoxy,  unless  they  should 
be  promptly  stigmatized  and  crushed.  Had  they  come  against  it, 
they  two  alone,  Orthodoxy,  it  is  true,  need  hardly  so  much  as 
have  turned  its  face  towards  them ;  but  when  they  advanced  be- 
neath the  banners  of  Arius,  or  in  close  league  with  so  vigorous  a 
foe,  the  matter  became  incomparably  more  serious.  Besides  the 
urgency  of  this  peril,  further  occasion  for  the  assembling  of  a 
second  council  was  found  in  the  need  of  reaffirming  the  doctrine 
of  the  first,  which  had  been  violently  and  persistently  impugned 
by  so  numerous  and  wide-spread  a  faction.  Creed  after  Creed, — 
this  closely  resembling  the  Nicene,  that  widely  departing  from  it 
while  retaining  the  same  general  arrangement, — had  been  pro- 
mulgated by  synods,  Arian  confessedly,  Arian  covertly,  Semi- 
Arian,  Catholic,  and  mixed,  till  men's  minds  had  become  greatly 
confused,  and  the  unlearned  might  almost  be  pardoned  if  the}' 
professed  themselves  unable  to  distinguish,  in  this  Babel,  the  an- 
cient tongue  of  the  true  Children  of  God.  It  was  high  time  that 
the  Church  should  again  put  herself  on  the  record,  proving  to  the 
world  that  her  faith  had  not  been  changed  by  all  this  uproar,  and 
guarding  her  sons  against  fresh  error  that  had  lately  arisen. 

Yet  gloomy  forebodings  must  have  troubled  the  leaders  of  the 
Catholic  Church  when  looking  forward  to  the  probable  conduct 
and  action  of  another  Council,  should  one  be  convoked  in  sub- 
mission to  the  evident  demands  of  the  situation.  So  altered  had 
become  the  position  of  Cliristianity  in  the  world  that,  instead  of  a 
meeting,  from  far  distant  regions,  of  saints  and  heroes,  scarred, 
bruised,  maimed,  and  disfigured  by  the  terrible  ordeals  which  had 
beautified  and  strengthened  the  soul  even  more  than  they  had 
marred  and  weakened  the  body,  the  convocation  would  be  one  of 
dignitaries   who,  in  many  respects,  were  hardly  distinguishable 


130  THE  CHURCH  AXD   THE  FAITH. 

from  the  pampered,  proud,  and  profligate  senators,  consuls,  and 
commanders  of  the  decaying  empire,  and  were  far  more  likely 
to  display  the  violent  passions  which  make  theological  debate  so 
fruitful  in  asperities,  than  the  huTuility,  mildness,  and  charity  which 
certainly  ought  notably  to  characterize  those  Avho  preach  to  the 
populace  the  religion  of  the  Crucified.  Various  causes  worked 
together  in  thus  demoralizing  the  Church,  among  which  two  are 
worthy  of  remark.  The  sad  consequences  of  the  marriage  con- 
summated by  the  great  Constantino  have  already  been  dwelt  upon. 
It  must  be  seldom  that  a  pious  husband  or  wife  will  not  feel  dis- 
astrous eflfects  from  union  with  an  ungodly  partner, — disastrous  to 
the  spiritual  tone  of  the  life.  AVhen  such  connections  are  brought 
about  by  events  over  which  the  suffering  party  had  little  or  no 
control,  grace  sufficient  for  the  extraordinary  need  may  doubtless 
be  expected ;  but  when  the  son  or  daugliter  of  God  allies  him- 
self or  herself  with  one  who  is  an  alien  from  the  conunon\vealth  of 
Israel,  who  cares  naught  for  God  or  religion,  who  is  a  devotee  at 
the  shrine  of  this  world's  deity,  in  that  case  has  there  not  been  a 
tempting  of  God,  a  presumptuous  casting  down  of  one's  self  from 
the  pinnacle  of  safety,  and  a  consequent  forfeiting  of  the  promised 
angelic  ministrations?  The  great  society  of  the  baptized  did  not 
cease  to  be  God's  Church  when  it  lowered  itself  so  far  as  to  crouch 
beneath  the  imperial  -^Egis,  but  it  did  subject  itself  to  incalculable 
danger  from  too  close  contact  with  the  world,  from  the  contami- 
nating touch  of  wealth  and  power,  and  from  the  insidious  tempta- 
tion of  depending  for  safety  and  success  upon  the  assistance  of  the 
government.  Behold  the  event !  Who  could  hope  to  sit  secure 
as  archbishop  of  Constantinople  if  unaccejitable  to  its  Lord  and 
King  ?  AVhat  remains  for  Paul  or  Gregory,  for  Chrysostom  him- 
self, let  the  imperial  brows  once  knit  against  him,  but  to  come 
down  from  his  seat  and  surrender  the  staff  which  God  and  His 
Church  have  intrusted  to  him  ?  Let  him  be  ever  so  clearly  the 
very  man  designated  by  supereminent  ability,  and  fervid  eloquence, 
and  popular  favor  to  rule  over  the  greatest  city  of  the  world  as  its 
pastor  and  guide ;  let  him  be  the  leader  of  public  sentiment 
throuo-hout  Christendom  and  the  most  dreaded  foe  of  heterodoxv, 
still,  if  my  Lord  the  King  thinks  that  his  posture  is  a  trifle  too 
rigid,  down  he  must  be  dragged  at  once,  in  order  perhaps  to  make 
room  for  a  successor  only  distinguished  by  his  incompetency,  cor- 
ruptness, indolence,  and   indifference.     That   this  is  no  fanciful 


THE  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  131 

picture  is  witnessed  by  the  whole  history  of  the  period,  and  espe 
cially  by  that  portion  of  it  which  rehates  the  strifes  for  the  posses- 
sion of  the  greater  sees.  Prosperity  wrapped  its  deadly  coils  about 
the  Church,  and  mangled,  though  it  could  not  slay  her.  Efiemi- 
nacy,  cowardliness,  love  of  the  world,  desire  for  ease,  craving  for 
display — these  were  no  unimportant  auxiliaries  in  the  evil  work. 
Without  secular  assistance,  the  Church  would  have  increased  more 
rapidly,  exercised  a  more  undisputed  iniluence,  and  have  been  more 
fruitftil  in  works  of  piety,  than  it  was  with  it ;  but  that  prosperity 
would  not  have  been  of  the  same  kind,  nor  have  wrought  such 
evil.  The  prosperity  which  injured  the  Church  was  not  different 
from  that  which  sapped  the  empire :  it  was  one  which  involved 
the  possession  in  great  abimdance  of  the  good  things  of  this  life. 

If  the  primary  cause  of  the  religious  retrogression  was  the 
Church's  union  with  the  World,  the  second  is  to  be  looked  for  in 
the  long  continuance  of  the  Arian  strife.  Religious  discussion  is 
not  unattended  by  evils.  In  the  heat  of  debate  the  antagonists 
will  say  and  do  many  things  repugnant  to  their  own  sense  of  pro- 
priety. Involved  in  continuous  argumentations,  polemics  will  be- 
come oblivious  of  the  practical  significance  of  the  very  things 
about  which  the  war  is  waged  so  hotly.  It  would  seem  to  the 
modern  who  reads  of  such  a  rapid  succession  of  synods  and  coun- 
cils, who  is  told  that  the  public  service  suffered  serious  inconven- 
ience from  the  monopolizing  of  roads  and  beasts  by  eager  ecclesi- 
astics thronging  to  the  fray,  who  is  perplexed  by  the  effort  to  keep 
the  track  of  the  various  shadings  and  colorings  of  heresy  which 
perpetually  annoyed  the  feithful,  and  who  marks  the  frenzy  which 
apparently  had  seized  upon  the  great  majority  on  both  sides,  as  if 
for  the  half  century  between  the  Councils  of  Nice  and  Constanti- 
nople, the  whole  mass  of  believers  did  little  else  than  wield,  fur- 
bish, or  whet  the  sword  of  controversy.  Such  a  state  of  affairs 
cannot  be  healthful.  The  fathers  who  sat  on  the  banks  of  the 
Bosporus  came  not,  as  they  whose  hall  was  swept  by  cool  breezes 
from  the  Ascanian  Lake,  from  tending  their  flocks  with  peaceful 
assiduity,  accustomed  to  be  startled  now  and  then  by  the  wild 
beasts'  roar,  and  sometimes  to  be  themselves  mangled  by  their  cruel 
fangs,  but  otherwise  to  act  the  part  of  unwarlike  shepherds-:  they 
gathered  from  provinces  and  cities  rent  and  torn  in  the  mad  war- 
fare of  fanatics,  habituated  to  the  battle-cries  of  contending  factions, 
taught  to  fence  with  the  sharp  weapons  of  logic,  not  unused  to  see 


132  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

the  grosser  missiles  and  implements  of  carnal  contention  employed 
in  adjusting   controversies  concerning   the   Essence  of  God,  till 
streets  ran  with  blood,  and  other  sights,  yet  more  abominable, 
offended  the  eye  of  Heaven.     Fifty-six  years  of  internal  strife  had 
not  been  without  their  deteriorating  effect  upon  the  Church.  Whose 
was  the  fault?     Was  it  her  own  fault  that  " Ilomoousion "  and 
"  Homoiousion "  had  become  the  battle-shout  of  hosts  and  the 
rallying-cry  of  mobs  ?     Had  she  erred  in  insisting  upon  psycho- 
logical distinctions,   when  prudence,  common-sense,  and  divine 
command  obliged  lier  not  to  make  the  door-way  quite  so  narrow? 
Not  so.     The  wolf  and  the  bear  must  be  excluded,  even  if  you  are 
compelled  to  contract  the  entrance  to  an  inconvenient  narrowness. 
Yet  the  fault  was  her  own :  she  ouijht  not  to  have  closed  with 
Constantine's  alluring  offer.     Had  she  retained  her  independence, 
Eusebius  and  Arius  scarcely  could  have  made  head  against  the 
overwhelming  odds.    Their  only  hope  from  the  beginning  drew  its 
inspiration  from  the  court.     It  was  court  influence  and  imperial 
power  which  drove  the  catholic  and  orthodox  prelates  out  of  their 
churches  and  installed  heretics  in  their  stead.     What  was  the  arm 
which  excluded  Athanasius  from  his  proper  seat  for  twenty  years? 
What  hand  scourged  the  refractory  bishops  at  Himini  into  com- 
pliance with  the  will  of  the  Arians,  holding  thcni  there  in  captivity 
till  they  yielded  to  the  cajolery  of  a  clique  ?     What  power  stood 
behind  the  heretical  faction  when  it  rose  in  Antioch  or  in  Cirsarea, 
in  far  Cappadocia,  by  the  blue  Mediterranean,  or  where  the  pent- 
up  waters  of  the  Black  Sea  sweep  past  the  Golden  Horn  ?    Yalens, 
or  Constantius,  or  Constantino  was  punishing  the  Church  for  her 
blindness  when  he  sent  forth  his  decree,  or  dispatched  his  messen- 
ger, or  marched  his  troops  against  her  peace  and  her  interests. 

Under  such  unfavorable  auspices  must  a  Council  be  held,  if  at 
all.  Might  it  not,  then,  have  been  more  prudent  to  defer  for 
awhile  the  calling  of  it,  till  at  least  some  portion  of  the  intense 
polemic  excitement  had  subsided  ?  The  Church  was  not  left  to 
decide  this  question,  but  was  relieved  from  the  responsibility  by 
the  issuing  of  a  royal  summons  to  the  bishops  of  the  East  to  as- 
semble at  Constantinople,  in  the  year  of  grace  381. 

The  choice  of  place  was  a  natural  one.  Kot  only  was  Con- 
stantinople the  very  seat  of  the  Macedonian  heresy,  but  the  thea- 
tre of  the  whole  Arian  struggle  had  in  a  measure  been  erected 
within  its  precincts.    Then,  too,  New  Rome  was  the  darling  of  the 


THE  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  133 

Eastern  Empire,  already  outshining  the  ancient  city  of  Latium,  and 
designed  to  become  the  metropolis,  as  ■well  as  the  capital,  of  the 
world.  Well  had  Constantine  judged  when  he  determined  upon 
that  site,  bj  the  shores  of  the  Bosporus,  for  his  intended  city.  If 
Alexandria  bears  testimony  to  shrewdness  and  foresight  in  the 
heroic  Macedonian,  Constantinople  witnesses  yet  more  eloquently, 
by  her  i-apid  growth,  wonderful  prosperity,  and  astonishing  lon- 
gevity, to  the  genius  of  the  victor  at  the  Milvian  Bridge.  Situated 
where  two  continents  approach  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  each 
other,  and  close  by  the  deep  channel  which  connects  several  im- 
mense bodies  of  water,  possessing,  moreover,  an  excellent  harbor, 
she  had  but  to  open  her  hands  and  grasp  the  commerce  of  the 
world.  Why  should  not  Keligion  avail  herself  of  the  ships,  cara- 
vans, and  emporiums  of  commerce?  Thitherward  flowed  natu- 
rally the  concourse  of  divines  as  to  the  centre  of  trade,  art,  litera- 
ture, learning,  and  theology. 

The  motives  which  actuated  Theodosius  in  convening  this 
council  were  possibly  as  pure  as  those  which  moved  the  first 
Christian  emperor  in  setting  him  the  example ;  though  there  may 
not  have  been  wanting  among  them  a  desire  to  emulate  the  fame 
of  his  greater  predecessor.  Theodosius,  it  may  be,  thought  that 
his  name  would  go  down  to  posterity  as  that  of  the  Restorer  of 
Catholicity  and  Second  Father  of  the  Church,  shining  with  even 
brighter  effulgence,  as  that  of  the  Overthrower  of  Arianisra,  than 
had  it  fallen  to  his  lot  to  accomplish  the  easier  task  of  demolish- 
ing a  superstition  already  worn  out,  like  that  of  pagan  Rome 
when  Constantine  applied  his  torch  to  the  tottering  fabric.  Nor 
can  the  one  great  blot  upon  his  escutcheon,  the  massacre  perpe- 
trated by  his  order  at  Thessalonica  upon  a  promiscuous  multitude, 
be  considered  as  proving  him  undeserving  of  the  peculiar  favor 
with  which  he  has  always  been  regarded  by  the  Orthodox;  for 
that  horrible  deed  was  provoked  by  a  gross  popular  outrage  upon 
the  representatives  of  the  crown,  was  little  more  than  an  over- 
severe  execution  of  justice,  and  was  bitterly  repented  by  the  ex- 
communicated sovereign  standing  stripped  of  his  regal  ornaments, 
an  humble  suppliant  for  pardon  and  reconciliation,  publicly  solic- 
iting with  sighs  and  tears,  within  the  church  of  Milan,  from  the 
clemency  of  St.  Ambrose  the  removal  of  the  sentence  which 
barred  him  from  the  altar.  Theodosius  was  almost  an  exemplary 
sovereign,  stained  with  none  of  the  private  delinquencies,  and 


134  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

scarcely  witli  any  of  the  flagitious  crimes  wliieh  befouled  the  repu- 
tation of  Lis  illustrious  predecessor.  The  choice  of  a  Spanish 
provincial  by  Gratian  as  ])artner  of  his  throne  and  ruler  of  the 
East,  withdrew  him  from  the  elegant  and  comfortable  retirement 
of  agricultural  pursuits,  to  which  he  had  betaken  himself  with 
singular  prudence  and  self-control  when  the  ingratitude  of  the 
government  slew  the  father  who  had  already  made  the  name  of 
Theodosius  illustrious  by  the  victorious  generalship  of  more  than 
one  arduous  and  difficult  campaign;  and  plunged  him  forthwith  into 
the  toils  and  perils  of  the  Gothic  war,  which  his  prudence  soon 
brought  to  a  fortunate  conclusion.  From  this  time  till  the  death  of 
Yalentinian  11.  his  reign  was  marked  by  generosity  and  magna- 
nimity towards  a  weaker  colleague,  temperateness,  except  in  the  few 
instances  in  Mliich  he  was  hurried  away  by  passion,  as  in  the  well- 
known  case  of  Thessalonica,  a  general  regard  for  equity,  and  by  pru- 
dence, foresight,  and  wisdom.  He  at  last  found  himself  undisputed 
master  of  the  Roman  world,  but  did  not  survive  that  event  long 
enough  to  satisfy  us  that  his  hand  was  sufficiently  firm  and  skillful  to 
guide  the  chariot  of  state  without  assistance  in  such  troublous  times. 
Indeed,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  he  would  have  taken  counsel 
rather  of  indolence  or  prudence  than  of  ambition,  and  allowed  his 
sons  to  reign  independently  over  distinct  portions  of  the  empire. 
No  incident  is  recorded  of  this  great  prince,  the  last  who  reigned 
over  the  undivided  realm,  more  to  his  credit  than  his  returning 
to  Valentinian  the  provinces  from  which  he  had  been  expelled  by 
the  usurper  Maximus,  and  adding  to  them  those  which  that 
tyrant  had  seized  in  the  reign  of  Gratian ;  and  this,  although  he 
held  Valentinian  wholly  in  his  power,  and  his  own  unaided 
prowess  had  destroyed  the  usurper.  It  is  no  ordinary  character 
that  can  practice  such  self-abnegation  under  circumstances  of 
peculiar  temptation. 

If  any  emperor  was  to  manage  ecclesiastical  affairs,  Theodosius 
would  be  less  likely  than  almost  any  other  to  control  them  to  the 
detriment  of  the  Church.  Besides  the  virtues  with  which  he  had 
adorned  his  private  station,  and  which  he  did  not  shake  off  with 
the  ordinary  garb  of  the  farmer,  he  possessed  the  additional  recom- 
mendation of  being  a  staunch  Catholic.  A  most  objectionable 
custom  of  the  age  having  delayed  his  baptism  till  he  had  reached 
mature  years,  it  was  not  before  he  had  passed  through  the  dangers 
of  one  campaign  and  an  illness  so  severe  as  to  imperil  his  life,  that 


THE  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  135 

he  received  at  the  liauds  of  Ascholius,  the  orthodox  bishop  of 
Thessalonica,  that  regenerating  sacrament  which  should  have 
sanctified  his  infant  days.  From  that  moment  the  whole  weight 
of  his  influence  was  cast  upon  the  side  of  those  who  held  to  the 
Homociusion,  and  not  infrequently  the  stress  of  his  wrath  de- 
scended upon  the  contumacious  heretics,  as  he  doubtless  regarded 
them,  who  stubbornly  remained  Arian  after  he  had  denounced 
their  impiety.  Imperial  edicts  attached  the  penalties  of  exile,  fine, 
and  confiscation  to  the  reception  or  conferring  of  heretical  ordina- 
tion ;  prohibited  all  meetings  for  purposes  of  heretical  worship,  and 
declared  forfeited  the  building  or  ground  so  desecrated  ;  placed  all 
heretics  outside  the  pale  of  the  law  to  a  great  extent,  shutting 
them  off  also  from  all  prospects  of  civil  employment,  disqualify- 
ing at  least  one  class  from  making  their  wills,  and  inflicting  capi- 
tal punishment  upon  those  who  dared  to  entertain  the  impious 
tenets  of  Manes,  or  to  celebrate  Easter  according  to  a  veiy  ancient 
custom.  While  we  cannot  avoid  feeling  disgust  at  such  tyran- 
nical and  absurd  laws,  we  must  attribute  much  of  their  objection- 
able features  to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  exonerate  Thcodosius 
from  the  charge  of  having  been  intentionally  cruel  and  domineer- 
ing. We  ought  also  to  remark  that,  by  sinking  under  these  op- 
pressive edicts,  Arianism  showed  that  it  did  not  possess  the  vitality 
which  may  reasonably  be  expected  in  a  sect  really  battling  for  the 
truth  of  God. 

Wlien  Theodosius,  yielding  to  a  request  to  have  disobeyed 
which  would  have  been  to  throw  away  his  life,  mounted  the 
throne  of  Valens,  the  Goths  had  lately  routed  the  army  of  that 
Arian  tyrant,  and  slain  him  on  the  disastrous  field  of  Hadrianople. 
Under  Fritigern  these  valiant  barbarians  wei'e  already  giving 
auguries  of  the  days  when  Alaric  should  thunder  at  the  gates  of 
the  Eternal  City.  From  the  banks  of  the  Danube  and  the  distant 
tracts  of  Moesia  they  had  gradually  moved  forward  towards  the 
seat  of  dominion,  till  now,  allied  with  the  savage  hordes  of  Huns, 
Alani,  and  kindred  tribes,  they  had  actually  advanced  their  front 
within  sight  of  the  gates  of  Constantinople.  At  such  a  juncture 
was  Theodosius  summoned  to  the  field.  During  the  continuance 
of  this  life-and-death  struggle,  and  probably  taking  advantage  of 
the  leisure  afforded  by  a  slight  lull  which  attended  upon  the 
formation  of  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Athanaric,  the  leader  of  the 
Ostrogoths,  he  turned  aside  from  the  anxieties  of  warfare  in  order 


136  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH 

to  set  on  foot  measures  for  promoting  the  welfare  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  This  compact  must  have  been  ratified  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year  381,  and  in  May  of  the  same  year  the  council 
assembled  at  Constantinople. 

Neither  in  numbers  nor  in  dignity  does  this  assemblage 
deserve  to  rank  on  a  par  with  that  great  First  Council  about 
which  80  much  interest  has  always  centred.  Some  one  hundred 
and  fifty  bishops  presented  themselves,  with  the  learned  and 
famous  Gregory  of  Nazianzum  at  their  head  :  in  addition  to  these 
orthodox  prelates,  Macedonian  bishops  to  the  number  of  thirty-six 
had  obeyed  the  summons  of  Theodosius,  wlio  hoped  that  they 
could  be  brought  to  accede  to  the  demands  of  the  Nicene  Chris- 
tians. The  picture  of  this  synod  painted  by  the  competent  hand 
of  its  president  does  not  impress  us  with  the  feeling  of  respect 
and  veneration  which  should  attend  such  a  gathering  of  digni- 
taries. We  are  thrown  back  upon  the  reflections  already  detailed 
concerning  the  deteriorating  effects  of  the  union  of  Church  and 
State.  In  their  synodical  letter,  the  Constantinopolitan  fathers 
dwell  upon  the  hardships  which  they  had  been  called  upon  to 
bear  in  defense  of  the  faith.  Without  at  all  doubting  their  verac- 
ity, and  having  fresh  in  our  memories  the  persecutions  suffered  by 
Atlianasius,  Ilosius,  and  other  champions  of  the  Ilomoousion,  we 
must  be  permitted  to  doubt  whether  very  many  of  those  bishops 
had  really  undergone  torture  or  endured  exile,  and  also  to  remark 
that,  even  if  they  had,  they  had  probably  not  borne  their  afilictions 
in  quite  the  same  spirit  as  those  who  had  been  cruelly  treated  by 
the  heathen.  In  the  latter  case  there  would  be  the  quiet  resigna- 
tion of  men  who,  conscious  of  their  own  helplessness,  bowed  to  the 
will  of  Heaven  ;  in  the  former,  something  at  least  of  the  restive- 
ness,  combativeness,  and  lingering  ferocity  of  those  who  expected 
presently  to  gain  the  upper  hand  themselves. 

It  is  not  fair  to  compare  these  ancient  synods  with  the  con- 
ventions of  modern  times  without  making  some  allowance  for  the 
former.  Sorrow  and  shame  depress  the  mind  of  the  churchman 
who  revolves  therein  the  undignified  and  even  uproarious  scenes 
that  cast  so  dark  a  shadow  upon  the  celebrated  gatherings  of  the 
Church  at  Ephesus  and  loaded  with  reproaches  the  name  of  another 
Alexandrian  bishop,  the  famous  Cyril ;  meditates  upon  the  melan- 
choly fact  that  hardly  a  single  synod,  large  or  small,  can  be  ac- 
quitted of  similar  misconduct ;  or  hears  that  Gregory  Nazianzen 


THE  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  I37 

speaks  iii  reproachful  language  of  the  very  meetings  over  which 
he  himself  presided.  Did  not  Gregory's  brush  color  a  little  too 
highly  ?  Even  if  it  did  not,  one  reflection  intrudes  itself  upon  us 
which  at  least  serves  to  explain  the  unfortunate  circumstance  with- 
out smearing  the  grouped  faces  with  one  hopeless  daub  of  black. 
Parliamentary  law,  as  we  now  call  it,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  gen- 
erally understood.  The  Romans,  being  preeminently  a  people  of 
law  and  order,  doubtless  observed  certain  well-defined  methods  of 
procedure  in  their  comitia,  in  their  courts  of  justice,  and  in  trans- 
acting the  business  which  came  before  the  Patres  Conscripti.  The 
same  genius  of  organizing  must  have  presided  over  the  informal 
meetings  in  the  fora  and  porticoes.  Nor  had  the  spirit  of  method 
deserted  its  old  haunts  as  yet  in  the  era  of  the  General  Councils ; 
an  era  which  was  remarkably  productive  of  legislation  and  of 
codification,  as  the  very  mention  of  the  names  of  Theodosius  and 
Justinian  must  remind  every  student  of  history.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  predominance  of  the  legal  idea,  it  does  not  seem  that 
there  tlien  existed  a  recognized  system  of  rules  which  were  ap- 
plicable to  any  meeting  for  debate,  discussion,  or  tjie  arrange- 
ment of  general  afiairs.  If  such  a  manual  did  exist,  it  was  not 
introduced  into  any  of  the  ecclesiastical  synods,  as  far  at  least  as 
our  knowledge  extends.  Lamentable  experience  has  taught  man- 
kind that  the  only  safe  course  is  to  observe  the  etiquette  of  debate, 
and  to  have  that  determined  by  the  absolute  voice  of  a  presiding 
ofiicer,  who  pronounces  his  decision  subject  only  to  a  formal  ap- 
peal to  the  entire  body,  basing  it  upon  a  recognized  code  of  regu- 
lations. Unfortified  by  such  a  rampart  of  published  rules  and 
regulations  almost  universally  observed,  the  president  of  one  of 
those  early  councils  soon  found  his  position  forced  whenever  unu- 
sual excitement  reigned,  and  himself  obliged  to  withdraw  and 
await  the  advent  of  a  pai-tial  calm,  which  was  not  to  be  expected 
till  the  combatants  had  expended  their  energies,  or  some  fortunate 
circumstance  had  diverted  their  attention  from  each  other.  Even 
if,  then,  we  are  not  permitted  to  excuse  these  tumults  by  referring 
them  to  the  character  of  an  age  in  Avhich,  the  force  of  coherence 
having  shown  itself  unable  to  bind  together  securely  such  vast 
territories  and  such  different  races  of  men,  the  various  elements  of 
destruction  were  gradually  working  up  to  the  surface  of  society, 
and  already  creating  that  ferment  which  was  to  result  in  the  dis- 
ruption of  the  empire ;  if  we  are  precluded  from  pleading  such  an 


138  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

excuse  in  behalf  of  men  who  were  the  chosen  leaders  of  a  body  of 
their  fellow-mortals  that  was  supposed  to  stand  apart  and  separate, 
in  professed  subjection  to  a  King  who  inculcates  the  virtues  of 
meekness,  brotherly-love,  and  mutual  forbearance ;  we  are  never- 
theless fully  justified  in  urging  on  their  behalf  the  mitigating  cir- 
cumstance that  human  ingenuity  had  not  yet  devised  a  Manual  of 
Parliamentary  Law.  Let  the  harsh  critic  who  would  scathe  all 
those  holy  men  with  his  sweeping  condemnation,  let  the  sad- 
hearted  Christian  whose  reluctant  eye  drops  a  tear  upon  the  page 
which  tells  the  story  of  the  Kobber  Synod,  remember  that  these 
were  assemblies  in  which  men  came  together  to  pronounce  judg- 
ment upon  questions  which  to  them  were  of  paramount  impor- 
tance, upon  which  they  had  meditated  till  the  dizzy  brain  fled 
from  thought,  and  which  they  had  defended  with  all  their  best 
powers  for  perhaps  two  generations;  and  that  these  assemblies 
were  not  managed  according  to  any  clearly-defined  system.  He 
who  has  had  the  slightest  opportunity  of  observing  deliberative 
gatherings,  knows  that  no  test  of  temper  equals  the  strain  and 
excitement  of  a  warm  debate.  The  M-eightier  the  question,  the 
deeper  it  stirs  the  soul.  The  profoundest  questions  of  theology 
seem  to  hold  suspended  the  world's  destiny,  and  to  authorize  the 
employment  of  any  means,  fair  or  unfair,  in  getting  them  prop- 
erly decided.  The  debater  who  is  thoroughly  persuaded  that  the 
victory  of  his  opponents  is  a  triumph  of  Hell,  and  is  equivalent  to 
the  signing  of  an  eternal  death-warrant  for  incalculable  multi- 
tudes, is  not  likely  to  view  with  equanimity  the  artifices  of  the 
other  party,  or  be  sparing  in  his  denunciations  of  the  wrongs 
which  he  sees  or  dreads,  or  to  be  conciliatory  in  his  bearing 
towards  those  whom  he  accuses  of  perpetrating  or  intending  in- 
jury to  the  truth.  It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  a  concourse  of 
the  worthy  and  pious  men  who  now  rule  over  the  Anglican  Com- 
munion, would  escape  our  strong  disapproval  for  having  indulged 
in  very  unseemly  behavior,  should  they  venture  to  throw  aside  the 
safe-guards  of  Parliamentary  Practice,  and  conduct  their  sessions 
under  the  lax  regulations  of  the  ancient  councils.  Bishops,  how- 
ever tried  and  true,  are  still  but  men,  so  that  it  need  not  astonish 
us  if  they  sometimes  exhibit  the  passions  and  weaknesses  of  men. 
If,  when  the  distance  and  feebleness  of  the  central  authority  have 
encourasred  cities  to  undertake  the  administration  of  their  own 
affairs  at  the  cost  of  frequent  ^editions,  an  occasional  prelate  puts 


THE  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  139 

himself  in  alliance  with  a  mob,  or  at  its  head,  in  order  more  to 
protect  himself  and  his  church  than  to  annoj  or  oppress  others ; 
or  if,  in  the  heat  of  discussion,  language  escapes  the  lips  of  an 
anointed  shepherd  which  would  shock  his  ears  coming  from  his 
own  sheep,  and  deeds  of  violence  are  committed  by  him  in  the 
terrible  earnestness  of  his  convictions  from  which  the  colder  zeal 
of  mercenary  demagogues  would  shrink  amid  the  tumults  of  a 
political  meeting ;  in  either  case  we  are  not  permitted  to  write  the 
offender  down  an  unreclaimed  ruffian  or  an  odious  hypocrite. 
Some  allowance  should  be  made  in  accordance  with  the  considera- 
tions just  advanced.  At  Nicsea  the  awful  presence  of  the  Em- 
peror tempered  the  discussions  to  a  mild  and  healthful  warmth. 
At  Constantinople  a  less  commendable  state  of  things  prevailed, 
but  it  is  not  to  be  credited  that  the  clamors  were  literally  like 
those  of  magpies  or  geese,  or  that  the  members  were  a  set  of 
coarse,  rude  savages.  We  feel  fully  warranted  in  maintaining 
that  the  assembled  bishops  were,  in  the  main,  men  for  whom  the 
Church  need  not  greatly  blush. 

A  brief  sketch  of  the  chief  character  may  be  useful  as  illus- 
trating the  period.  The  remote  province  of  Cappadocia  gave,  in 
that  age,  to  the  array  of  the  Lord  three  of  its  ablest  leaders,  who 
were  knit  together  in  the  closest  ties  of  affection.  Of  these,  Basil 
first  rose  into  prominence  as  Bishop  of  Csesarea  (in  Cappadocia), 
in  which  position  he  attained  great  distinction  for  ability  in  the 
pulpit  and  on  the  platform,  for  skill  in  ruling  his  province,  and 
for  the  persuasiveness  and  force  of  his  literary  productions.  His 
younger  brother,  Gregory,  made  bishop  of  Nyssa,  in  the  same 
province,  was  so  highly  esteemed  in  his  own  day  that  a  council  of 
Antioch  commissioned  him  to  make  a  general  visitation  of  the 
churches  in  Arabia ;  and  he  is  still  frequently  referred  to  by  those 
who  do  not  scorn  to  drink  of  the  stream  of  theology  near  its 
source.  The  other  Gregory  was  the  brother-in-arms  of  his  great 
contemporary :  together  they  pursued  the  studies  of  a  liberal  edu- 
cation at  some  of  the  most  famous  schools  of  the  time,  and  espe- 
cially at  that  of  Athens,  in  which  they  were  fellow-students  with 
Julian  the  Apostate,  then  a  mere  youth  like  themselves;  and 
together  they  retired  into  ascetic  seclusion  in  Pontus.  Their  sepa- 
ration was  effected  when  Basil,  upon  his  own  sudden  elevation, 
intent  upon  increasing  the  number  of  bishops  in  his  province, 
rather  unscrupulously  condemned  his  friend  to  the  oversight  of 


140  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

Sasima,  a  wretched  little  town  about  thirty  miles  from  Tjana. 
Thence,  or  rather  from  his  retreat  at  Selencia,  he  was  sunmioned 
to  undertake  the  important  and  difficult  labor  of  bringing  Con- 
stantinople back  to  the  Orthodox  faith.  In  accomplishing  this, 
his  eloquence  and  manly  policy  were  so  successful  that  he  soon 
heard  himself  nominated  by  the  general  voice  as  patriarch  of  that 
city.  The  council,  being  then  in  session,  took  up  the  cry,  and 
Theodosius  himself,  having  sent  a  detachment  of  the  imperial 
g-uard  to  wrest  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Sophia  from  the  Arians,  led 
Grefory  in  triumph  through  the  thronged  streets,  and  seated  him 
upon  the  throne  from  which  the  heretic  Damophilus  had  just  been 
driven.  This  sudden  exaltation  might  well  have  intoxicated  the 
humblest  mind,  but  the  heart  of  Gregory  still  beat  as  true  as  in 
the  days  of  his  lowliness.  Not  the  learning,  not  the  mighty  elo- 
quence, not  the  immortal  writings,  of  this  saint  envelop  him  in  so 
bright  a  glory  as  his  conduct  when  circumstances  dismissed  him 
into  obscurity  almost  before  he  had  tasted  of  the  delicious  cup 
just  lifted  to  his  lips.  The  Egyptians  were,  for  some  reason,  hos- 
tile to  him,  and  revived  against  him  the  old  prohibition  of  trans- 
lation;  whereupon,  with  excusable  indignation,  Gregory  offered 
to  retire  from  his  throne.  His  offer  being  promptly  accepted  by 
both  council  and  emperor,  the  archbishop  quietly  put  off  his  robes, 
laid  down  the  key  of  his  palace,  spoke  his  farewell  to  weeping 
thousands,  trampled  his  hopes  under  foot,  and  retreated  to  his 
native  Nazianzum,  which  was  destined  to  share  the  undying  fame 
of  its  noble  son, — never  nobler  than  when,  almost  without  a  sigh, 
he  turned  his  back  forever  upon  the  scene  of  his  short-lived  dis- 
tinction. 

Whatever  may  be  the  opinion  of  posterity  coneeraing  the 
Council's  action  in  substituting  the  senator  Nectarius  for  Gregory 
Nazianzen,  and  in  promoting  the  perjured  Flavian  to  the  episco- 
pal see  of  Antioch,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  conclave  trans- 
acted most  creditably  such  business  of  lasting  moment  as  came 
before  it.  Besides  dignifying  the  bishop  of  Constantinople,  as 
befitted  the  growing  importance  of  that  city,  with  the  next  place 
after  the  bishop  of  old  Eome,  the  Second  General  Council  adopted 
three  measures  that  intimately  concerned  the  welfare  of  Christen- 
dom :  (I.)  first,  it  reafiinned  the  doctrine  and  Creed  of  the  Council 
of  Nicsea ;  (11.)  secondly,  it  condemned  Macedonianism,  declared 
the  divinity  and  consubstantiality  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  enlarged 


THE  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  141 

the  Creed  by  expanding  tlie  third  paragraph  so  as  to  contain 
an  expression  of  the  full  belief  of  the  Catholic  Church  regard- 
ing the  Third  Person  of  the  Holy  and  Ever-adorable  Trinity ; 
(III.)  and,  thirdly,  it  also  condemned  Apollinarius  and  the  false 
teaching  which  denied  to  our  Lord  the  possession  of  a  human 
spirit. 

How  can  the  claim  of  this  council  to  (Ecumenicity  be  estab- 
lished, in  face  of  the  fact  that  it  was  an  exclusively  Eastern 
gathering?  That  it  did  not  contain  "Western  bishops  was  the 
result,  not  of  hostile  purpose,  but  of  circumstances.  The  Sov- 
ereign, at  whose  behest  it  was  convened,  then  reigned  only  over 
those  provinces  which  belonged  to  the  government  of  the  Orient ; 
and  in  consideration  of  the  fact  that  the  great  Arian  emperors, 
Constantius  and  Yalens,  had  preceded  him  in  ruling  over  that 
portion,  he  could  not  be  expected  to  see  the  necessity  of  asking 
Gratian  to  unite  with  him  in  calling  the  chief  pastors  of  the 
churches  within  their  respective  territories  to  a  combined  synod, 
the  principal  object  of  holding  which  would  be  to  extirpate  a 
heresy  which  scarcely  existed  in  the  dominions  of  the  Occidental 
monarch. 

We  are  thus  compelled  to  behold  the  Church  divided  into  two 
nearly  equal  parts  by  a  well-marked  line  of  division.  The  later 
civilization  of  the  ancient  world  belonged  to  two  distinct  types 
corresponding  to  the  two  dominant  races  which  had  their  homes, 
in  historic  times,  npon  the  two  peninsulas  which  prolong  the 
sonthern  shore  of  Europe  so  far  towards  the  inhospitable  coast  of 
Africa.  Issuing  from  one  great  parent-stock,  the  Indo-Germanic, 
and  speaking  languages  both  derived  from  the  ancient  Sanscrit, 
these  two  races,  though  each  containing  a  strong  infusion  of  the 
Pelasgic  element,  were  marked  by  characteristics  as  distinct  as 
their  tongues.  Appearing  first  upon  the  historic  stage,  the 
Greeks  distinguish  themselves  by  their  successful  prosecution  of 
all  pursuits  requii-ing  intellectual  power,  and  speedily  attained 
the  first  rank  in  literature,  philosophy,  science,  and  art.  Grecian 
genius  has  never  been  equaled.  To  select  the  equals  of  the  poets, 
orators,  sculptors,  painters,  and  thinkers  who  adorned  a  small  and 
not  over-populated  district  of  country,  within  the  compass  of  a 
century  or  two,  we  are  obliged  to  ransack  the  entire  world  and 
extend  our  search  through  a  score  of  centuries.  The  Eoman 
lacked  genius :  his  wit,  eloquence,  and  originality  were  borrowed. 


142  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

Yirgil,  Cicero,  Seneca,  what  were  thej  in  comparison  \vith 
Homer,  Demosthenes,  Plato?  He  did  have,  however,  what,  for 
the  practical  nses  of  life,  is  commonly  more  useful  to  its  possessor, 
talent.  If,  for  example,  the  thought  were  only  furnished  him  by 
^schylus  or  Sophocles,  by  Socrates  or  Aristotle,  the  Latin  could 
dress  it  out  in  beautiful  attire,  and  exhibit  it  so  transformed  that 
the  most  penetrating  would  hardly  pierce  its  disguise.  One  talent 
in  particular  seemed  inherent  in  the  Latin  nature,  a  talent  which 
marked  the  city  of  Rome  from  the  very  day  of  its  foundation ; 
which  dimly  appeared  when  the  Sabine  women  were  seized ; 
w^liich  emerged  into  the  lif^ht  of  dav  as  tribe  after  tribe  was  swal- 
lowed  up  by  the  rising  kingdom ;  which  shot  up  in  bright  flames 
towards  the  zenith  when  Roman  arms  subdued,  and  Roman  policy 
converted  into  allies  and  subjects,  the  nations  with  which  they 
came  in  contact ;  and  which  shone  with  steady  and  ever-increasing 
lustre  while  a  system  of  government  was  being  devised  which 
should  knead  and  compact  the  vast  dominion  into  one  organic 
whole.  As  a  soldier  or  as  a  legislator  the  Roman,  Avith  his  wonder- 
ful skill  in  organizing,  never  has  been  excelled.  Along  with  this 
talent  went  appropriate  qualities  of  soul,  courage,  firmness,  sturdy 
loyalty,  inflexible  determination  ;  qualities  without  which  the 
)nere  skill  would  not  have  availed  much. 

The  nmtual  action  and  reaction  of  natural  constitution  upon 
language  and  of  language  upon  natural  constitution,  is  too  compli- 
cated a  subject  for  present  investigation  ;  but  ihafact  nearly  con- 
cerns us  that  the  two  languages  also  had  their  distinguishing 
marks.  As  a  medium  for  conveying  abstract  ideas  and  fine  dis- 
tinctions, the  Greek  was  incomparably  superior,  so  that,  even  if  a 
man  made  the  attempt  to  philosophize  in  Latin,  he  soon  gave  it 
up  in  disgust  at  the  clumsiness  of  the  tools  with  which  he  was 
obliged  to  work.  The  mere  deficiency  in  the  vocabulary  might, 
perhaps,  have  been  made  up  in  course  of  time ;  but  in  order  to 
equalize  the  Latin  with  the  Greek,  and  give  it  the  wondrous 
flexibility  of  the  latter,  nothing  less  would  have  had  to  be  accom- 
plished than  its  total  recasting.  The  musicalness  and  stateliness 
of  the  Roman  tongue  fitted  it  tolerably  well  for  the  forum  and 
the  senate  chamber ;  but  what  could  it  do  in  the  stoce  without  an 
Optative  Mood,  an  Aorist  Tense,  or  the  marvelously  expressive 
Particles  that  convey  with  such  accuracy  each  nicest  shade  of 
meaning  ? 


THE  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  COXSTANTINOPLE.  143 

The  conquests  of  Alexander  had  carried  the  Grecian  language 
and  Grecian  civilization  beyond  the  Indus,  and  established  them 
so  firmly  in  Egypt,  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  and  in  other  regions  of 
the  East,  that  the  Komans  never  supplanted  them  with  their  own, 
genius  herein  exhibiting  greater  strength  and  tenacity  than  the 
ora-anizino;  talent.  The  advance  of  the  Eoman  legions  towards 
the  far  north  of  Germany,  across  the  breadth  and  length  of  His- 
pania  and  Gaul,  and  even  into  the  British  Isles,  had  reduced  the 
continent  of  Europe  under  the  dominion  of  a  civilization  almost 
purely  Eoman.  So,  then,  the  empire  naturally  tended  to  break 
across  a  median  line,  being  Greek  as  to  the  Eastern  portion,  and 
Latin  as  to  the  Western. 

Now,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  Providence  seldom  bestows  upon 
the  same  man  lofty  genius  and  estimable  qualities  of  soul.  Genius 
is  usually  unstable,  if  not  fickle.  Where  the  character  is  not 
lacking  in  earnestness,  perseverance,  and  courage,  pride  very  often 
mounts  upon  its  back  the  man  of  mighty  intellect,  and  soars  with 
him  into  the  forbidden  regions  of  dangerous  speculation.  What- 
ever objectionable  characteristics  entered  into  the  composition 
of  the  Greek  were  aggravated  by  long  contact  with  Asiatic 
effeminacy,  till  the  good  were  greatly  obscured,  or  wholly  lost. 
Enervated  by  a  relaxing  climate,  infected  by  the  bad  example 
of  the  indolent  inhabitants,  the  Greek  of  Antioch,  or  Iconium, 
oT  Chalcedon,  or  Constantinople,  was  not  the  Greek  of  Athens, 
Sparta,  or  Corinth :  yet  he  inherited  a  dialect  which  almost  com- 
pelled him  to  become  a  philosopher,  and  more  or  less  of  the  noble 
qualities  which  had  graced  his  ancestors  while  they  dwelt  among 
the  mountains,  and  tilled  the  sterile  soil,  of  Attica  and  Lace- 
doemon. 

When  Christianity  was  brought  to  these  two  races,  it  was  re- 
ceived by  them  in  accordance  with  their  natural  peculiarities. 
The  Greek  seized  upon  the  wonderful  truths  which  it  revealed, 
sought  adequate  expression  for  them  in  the  rich  treasury  of  his 
incomparable  mother  tongue,  compared  each  with  every  other,  in 
order  to  ascertain  the  exact  limits  of  all,  and  then  wove  them  into 
beautiful  systems  wherein  the  splendor  of  each  was  enhanced  by 
the  radiant  loveliness  of  the  rest.  Origen  or  Dionysius  had  at 
his  command  a  language  in  which  he  could  easily  express  any^ 
thought  that  the  human  mind  had  ever  conceived,  without  invent- 
ing  new  words,  or  having  recourse  to  cumbersome  paraphrases ; 


144  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

one,  too,  Tvbicli  ^vould  enable  liim  to  follow  up  an}-  thread  of 
investigation  into  regions  of  which  the  attenuated  atmosphere  re- 
fused to  support  human  respiration.  It  hardly  needs  to  be  added 
that  the  Greek-speaking  race  supplied  the  Church  with  her  theol- 
ogy, at  least  so  far  that  it  pursued  all  investigations,  and  furnished 
all  the  arguments  upon  which  a  question  was  to  be  decided. 
Unfortunately,  however,  Greek  genius  being  yoked  with  Oriental 
fickleness,  serious  deviations  from  the  direct  line  of  truth  were 
often  threatened  and  narrowly  escaped.  There  was  manifested 
among  the  Oriental  sages  too  much  of  that  restless  and  unbridled 
spirit  which  wandered  ])erpetually  after  "some  new  thing." 
Without  the  bold  and  strong-pinioned  Greek  intellect.  Christian 
theology  would  have  traveled  along  contentedly  upon  such  low 
levels  that  the  vigorous  mind  must  have  turned  away  from  it 
with  a  feeling  of  unconquerable  repugnance;  without  the  bul- 
warks thrown  up  around  it  by  that  philosophic  race,  it  must  have 
lain  exposed  to  the  deadly  attacks  of  the  first  heretic  M'ho  assailed 
it  with  skill  and  determination.  On  the  other  hand,  unless  it 
had  been  restrained  by  some  invincible  force  of  conservatism,  not 
improbably  some  new  Socrates  would  eventually  have  been  raised 
by  Attic  fervor  upon  a  loftier  pedestal  than  St.  John's. 

With  all  the  clumsiness  and  the  poverty  of  a  language  which 
had  no  word  for  Suv/'ou/',  and  in  which  Pceiniet  7/ie  had  only  the 
force  of  /  ref/ret,  with  all  the  stolidity  of  mind  which  failed  to 
produce  one  single  independent  thinker  of  eminence,  the  children 
of  the  Eternal  Citv  could  yet  boast  the  inheritance  of  certain  ster- 
ling  characteristics  which  are  really  more  valuable  and  more  honor- 
able than  the  keenest  insight,  the  widest  grasp,  and  the  most 
sustained  activity  of  mind.  The  Koman  of  the  Decadence,  how- 
ever degenerate,  was  a  descendant  of  the  Scipios,  Catos,  and  Bruti 
of  the  Republic,  men  who  could  neither  be  bought  nor  intimi- 
dated, who  embarked  in  a  cause  with  all  their  souls,  and  adhered 
to  it  till  death  set  them  adrift,  who  seized  a  standard  with  such 
unyielding  grasp  that  the  bleeding  stump  was  often  found  clinging 
to  it  on  the  battle-field.  He  could  still  be  loyal,  sturdy,  invinci- 
bly brave  as  of  old.  Satisfied  with  the  old,  which  he  had  thor- 
oughly tested,  which  had  grown  into  his  very  life,  around  which 
his  aflfections  had  learned  to  twine  themselves,  he  was  not  eager 
to  exchange  it  for  something  else,  merely  because  that  would  be 
new.     If  penetration  and  originality  distinguished  the  Greek,  the 


TEE  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  I45 


&5 


equally  valuable  qualities  of  calmness  and  impartiality  in  judging, 
deliberateness  in  acting,  and  tenaciousness  in  maintaining  honest 
convictions,  marked  tlie  Latin  as  liis  peer  in  tlie  Church  of  God, 
one  who  might  set  him  an  example  as  well  as  learn  a  lesson  in 
divinity  from  his  lips.  The  one  soared  high  in  air,  the  other 
marched  laboriously  over  the  rough  highway ;  but  the  former 
gained  little  either  in  distance  or  renown  by  a  flight  from  which 
the  proud  bird  was  often  obliged  to  alight,  and  tarry  for  the 
advance-column  of  its  slower  ally,  in  order  to  make  sure  that  it 
was  steering  its  course  in  the  right  direction. 

In  order  that  the  Council  of  Constantinople  should  be  entitled 
to  the  name  (Ecumenical,  it  is  not  necessary  that  it  should  have 
contained  delegates  duly  appointed  and  duly  certified  from  every 
separate  portion  of  Christendom,  any  more  than  that  it  should 
have  been  an  universal  mass-meeting  of  Christians  ;  nor  is  it 
requisite  that  a  general  summons  should  have  been  issued  and 
conveyed  to  every  member  of  the  episcopate ;  but  it  was  sufficient 
that  it  should  comprise  a  respectable  number  of  bishops  in  com- 
munion with  the  Church,  provided  their  action  in  matters  of  gen- 
eral importance  should  afterwards  be  honored  with  the  stamp  of 
universal  approval.  In  the  case  before  us,  the  fact  of  this  general 
approbation  is  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  doubt.  We  need  not 
inquire  into  the  date  of  the  synodical  letter  to  Damasis,  Bishop  of 
Kome,  Ambrose,  Ascholius  of  Thessalonica,  and  the  other  bishops 
assembled  at  Rome,  professing  to  have  been  written  by  the  or- 
thodox bishops  "convened  in  the  great  city  of  Constantinople," 
nor  as  to  whether  any,  and  what,  reply  was  made ;  for  we  have  one 
unanswerable  proof  that  the  Council  was  acknowledged  throughout 
the  Christian  world.  If  the  Council  of  !Nice  was  a  General  one,  so 
must  also  that  of  Constantinople  have  been,  since  the  latter  altered 
a  decree  of  the  former,  and  the  alteration  was  adopted  every- 
where. The  first  set  forth  a  Creed,  and  commanded  it  to  be 
received,  without  addition  or  subtraction,  under  pain  of  damna- 
tion ;  the  second  added  almost  an  entire  paragraph  to  this  univer- 
sally adopted  formula.  A  General  Council  could  take  such  a  step 
with  enth'e  propriety,  upon  the  principle  that  no  legislature  can 
bind  succeeding  legislatures  by  passing  an  irrevocable  law,  but 
no  inferior  authority  could  do  so  without  incurring  the  announced 
penalty :  therefore,  as  the  Creed  of  Constantinople  universally 
took  the  place  of  that  one  which  had  been  promulgated  by  the 


146  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

earlier  synod,  the  Church  at  large  manifested  its  acceptance  of 
the  later  synod's  coordinate  authority.  In  the  face  of  the  fact 
that  the  enlarged  formula  gradually  came  to  be  recited  publicly 
in  all  the  orthodox  churches,  it  sounds  strangely  to  hear  learned 
men  say  that  the  (Ecumenicity  of  the  Second  Council  was  not 
generally  acknowledged 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE    COUNCIL    OF    EPHESU8. 

At  a  bend  of  the  river  Orontes,  where  it  breaks  through  the 
parted  chain  of  Lebanon  and  Taurus,  covering  a  plateau  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  stream,  extending  its  streets  to  an  island  in  front, 
and  creeping  up  the  precipitous  slope  of  Mount  Silpius,  which 
shuts  off  the  southward  view,  stood  the  famous  city  of  Seleucus 
Xicator,  the  capital  of  the  dynasty  to  which  he  belonged,  and  for 
awhile  the  successful  rival  of  Damascus  as  metropolis  of  Syria. 
Beautifully  situated,  adorned  with  one  of  those  interminable  col- 
onnaded streets  that  embellished  Tyre  and  many  another  Syrian 
city,  filled  with  magnificent  buildings,  numbering  probably  about 
half  a  million  of  inhabitants,  and  not  undistinguished  in  point  of 
culture,  Antioch  was  no  unworthy  competitor  with  Alexandria  for 
the  queenly  diadem  of  the  Mediterranean.     The  experience  of 
Julian  when  he  took  up  his  temporary  abode  among  the  Anti- 
ochenes  on  his  way  to  his  fatal  campaign  against  Sapor,  and  of 
Theodosius,  when,  goaded  by  heavy  taxation,  they  overthrew  and 
ignominiously  treated  his  statue  and  those  of  the  royal  family, 
seems  to  justify  the  general  opinion  of  their  contemporaries,  which 
stamped  the  citizens  of  that  metropolis  as  indolent,  luxurious, 
effeminate,  and  fickle  to  the  last  degree.     In  such  a  conmnmity 
learning  must  be  cultivated  under  great  difiiculties.    The  prevailino- 
effeminacy,  impurity,  venality,  and  general  unhealthiness  must  in- 
fect the  intellect  more  or  less.     Still,  philosophy  flourished  exten- 
sively in  many  an  unwholesome  atmosphere  during  the  long  period 
of  Rome's  decline.    We  have  already  taken  a  glance  at  the  early  his- 
tory of  Pantaenus's  celebrated  Catechetical  School,  and  seen  it  trans- 
formed gradually  into  a  close  resemblance  to  our  modern  theological 
seminaries.     In  Antioch  arose,  somewhat  later,  a  similar  school, 
destined  to  vie  in  reputation,  and  to  strive  for  the  palm  of  contro- 
versial victory,  with  the  Alexandrian.    At  the  head  of  it  appeared, 


148  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

in  tlie  latter  half  of  the  fourth  century,  a  man  of  some  note,  the 
same  who  as  Diodorus,  Bishop  of  Tai"sus,  sat  in  the  Second 
General  Council.  It  was  his  good  fortune  to  have  for  pupils  the 
"Golden-mouthed"  John  (surnamed  from  his  eloquence  Chrysos- 
tom),  the  peerless  preacher  of  Antioch  and  stern  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, and  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia.  Presently  the  pupils 
become  masters,  and  in  the  room  of  the  scholar  are  found  Nesto- 
rius,  future  patriarch  of  Constantinople;  John,  soon  to  be  set 
over  Antioch  itself;  and  a  famous  author,  Theodoret  of  Cyrus. 
The  fundamental  difference  between  these  two  great  Christian 
schools  seems  to  have  been  that,  while  the  more  ancient  one  adi 
hered  to  that  mystical  method  of  interpreting  Scripture  which  had 
so  notably  characterized  its  great  disciple,  the  "  Adamantine," — 
which  was  always  delving  for  hidden  treasure,  in  contempt  of  the 
literal  meaning  that  lay  before  the  reader's  eye, — the  more  recent 
one  had  hit  upon  a  sort  of  V/'a  Media,  or  middle  wa}',  between 
bald  literalism  and  the  vagaries  of  untrammeled  mysticism  ;  a 
method  which  has  since  gradually  grown  in  favor  till  it  has  won 
an  almost  undisputed  sway  over  the  learned  biblical  scholars  of 
England  and  Germany,  establishing  itself  upon  a  general  survey 
of  entire  passages  and  a  critical  examination  thereof  by  the 
aid  of  grammar,  history,  geography,  antiquarian  research,  and 
philology. 

Scorning  the  odds  of  numbers,  Alexandria  evinced  no  hesita- 
tion in  combatincr  single-handed  the  entire  East.  She  aftected  to 
look  down  contemptuously  upon  the  upstart  inqjortance  of  Con- 
stantinople, pretending  to  regard  the  court  limits  as  coterminous 
with  the  precincts  of  the  city,  and  all  the  inhabitants,  from  the 
humblest  frequenter  of  the  church  of  St.  Sophia  up  to  the  patri- 
arch himself,  as  sycophants  and  truckling  courtiers.  The  natural 
jealousy  of  commercial  emulation  had  been  intensified  and  embit- 
tered by  the  shai^pness  of  the  Arian  controversy.  Therefore,  when 
Nestorius  ascended  the  throne  of  Constantinople,  concentrating  in 
himself  two  such  causes  of  animosity,  it  is  not  strange  that  the 
hostility  which  had  led  Theophilus  to  depose  Chrysostom  at  the 
Synod  of  the  Oak,  broke  out  with  increased  fury,  now  that  a 
prelate  of  no  gentle  and  yielding  temper  ruled  the  fierce  mob  of 
the  Eclectic  city  at  the  mouth  of  old  Father  Nile. 

As  Cyril  of  Alexandria  plays  such  a  conspicuous  part  in  the 
history  of  the  Third  Council,  we  may  say  a  word  about  him  at 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHESUS.  149 

once.  Few  men  amono-  those  who  have  received  the  honor  of 
canonization  have  come  in  for  a  larger  share  of  abuse  than  this 
prelate.  Indeed,  much  of  his  conduct  was  such  that  the  most 
ardent  friend  of  orthodoxy  would  be  averse  from  undertaking  to 
defend  it.  Being  the  nephew  of  his  immediate  predecessor, 
Theophilus,  who  had  invaded  Constantinople  with  a  large  retinue 
of  ecclesiastics  and  a  bodv-o;uard  of  Alexandrian  sailors,  and 
almost  dragged  the  immaculate  bishop,  noblest  orator  of  all  the 
fathers,  from  his  seat,  Cvril  seems  to  have  inherited  the  vices  of 
the  haughty  and  violent  relation  whose  movements  he  accom- 
panied all  the  way  to  the  Golden  Horn  and  the  suburb  of  Chal- 
cedon.  A  sojourn  of  five  years  among  the  recluses  of  Nitria 
served  (it  may  be  no  breach  of  charity  to  say  with  his  friend,  Isi- 
dore of  Pelusium)  mainly  to  feed  his  spiritual  pride ;  and  a 
severely  contested  election  certainly  had  not  softened  his  disposition 
when  he  felt  himself  secure  upon  the  lofty  seat  to  which  he  had 
aspired.  It  is  not  denied  that  he  dealt  cruelly  w^itli  a  very  peace- 
able set  of  Christians, — the  inoffensive  Xovatians, — shutting  the 
doors  of  their  own  churches  against  tliem,  and  confiscating 
their  sacred  vessels.  His  lawless  act  in  forcibly  expelling  a  colony 
of  forty  thousand  Jews,  must  have  been  exceedingly  distasteful  to 
the  many  among  his  own  zealous  adherents  who  had  profited  from 
the  industry  and  wealth  of  that  people.  The  prefect,  powerless 
to  coerce  the  mighty  ecclesiastic,  sent  a  complaint,  which  scarcely 
reached  the  deaf  ears  of  Theodosius,  but  rebounded  upon  the  head 
of  Orestes  himself,  bringing  against  him  five  hundred  of  the 
monks,  who  scattered  the  guard,  assaulted  his  chariot  as  he  drove 
through  the  city,  and  covered  his  face  with  the  blood  of  stone- 
bruises.  Whether  Cyril  hounded  on  these  savages  or  not,  he  made 
himself  an  accessory  after  tJie  fact  by  paying  unusual  and  unmer- 
ited honor  to  the  corpse  of  the  ringleader,  Ammonius,  who  was 
buried  with  all  the  ceremonies  due  to  martyrdom.  The  story  of 
Hypatia,  the  justly-celebrated  lecturess  in  philosophy,  has  been  so 
well  told  by  Charles  Kingsley  that  we  will  not  delay  upon  it. 
Her  utterly  causeless  murder  by  Peter  the  Header  and  a  mob  of 
parabolaui  was  not,  it  may  be,  directly  instigated  by  their  bishop, 
but  posterity  will  never  be  persuaded  that  a  large  share  of  the 
responsibility  for  the  atrocious,  unmanly,  cowardly  deed  did  not 
rest  upon  his  shoulders.  It  is  also  said  that  the  patriarch  freely 
expended  immense  sums  of  money  in  purchasing  the  favor  and 


150  THE  CHURCE  AND   THE  FAITH. 

support  of  those  who  had  influence  at  court ;  and  there  can  be  no 
douLt  of  the  truth  of  this  heavy  accusation.  How  Cyril  is  to  be 
exonerated  from  these  terrible  charges  M^e  cannot  conjecture. 
Granting  that  he  was  actuated  in  all  these  misdeeds  by  a  vehe- 
ment desire  to  advance  the  interests  of  his  church,  we  still  say  that 
insurrection,  arson,  deadly  assault,  murder,  bribery,  general  op- 
pression, and  conspiracy  are  not  light  offenses,  to  be  blown  away 
with  a  breath.  Cyril  may  have  been  a  brave,  intelligent,  and 
learned  man,  and  a  skillful  politician ;  but  before  he  can  be  pro- 
nounced an  ornament  of  the  episcopal  order,  the  ineradicable 
moral  ideas  of  mankind  will  need  to  be  revolutionized  completely. 
If  the  patriarch  of  the  great  orthodox  Alexandrian  Church  was 
better  fitted  to  act  the  part  of  Fritigcm  or  Genseric,  of  Brutus  or 
Rienzi,  of  Marius  or  Pompey,  than  to  sit  in  the  chair  of  St.  Mark, 
we  need  not  defend  him :  he  was  but  a  man.  Let  him  go !  The 
worst  creature  may  be  an  implement  in  God's  hands  to  accomplish 
great  results.  Neither  the  validity  of  episcopal  authority,  nor  the 
just  value  of  the  Ephesine  canons,  depends  upon  the  character  of 
Cyril.     Let  him  pass,  unvarnished,  for  what  he  was. 

Controversies  concerning  the  Incarnation  raged  just  as  hotly 
after  the  Council  of  Constantinople  as  before.  For  those  who  sub- 
mitted their  own  judgments  to  that  of  the  great  body,  two  doc- 
trines concerning  the  God-man,  our  Blessed  Redeemer,  had  been 
established,  that  He  was  perfect  God,  consubstantial  and  coeternal 
with  His  Father,  and  that  He  was  perfect  man,  lacking  no  part  of 
triplex  human  nature.  Was  there,  then,  no  change  produced  in 
either  the  Godhead  or  the  manhood  by  their  conjunction  ?  When 
the  chemist  has  ascertained  the  appearance  and  properties  of  all 
the  simples,  lie  can  yet  form  no  idea  what  the  result  will  be  of 
compounding  them.  For  example,  Oxygen  is  a  substance  most 
necessary  for  the  support  of  life,  and  Sulphur  is  not  particularly 
deleterious ;  but  mingle  one  part  of  the  latter  with  three  of  the 
former,  and  you  have  the  powerful  poison,  Sulphuric  Acid,  which 
seems  to  retain  few,  if  any,  of  the  characteristics  of  its  elementary 
constituents.  To  compare  great  things  with  small,  does  no  fusion 
or  commingling  take  place  between  the  two  natures  in  the  God- 
man  ?  Such  was  the  question  which  next  came  to  the  surface : 
how  should  it  be  answered?  The  Scriptures  could  hardly  be 
expected  to  supply  any  direct  answer :  they  would,  and  did,  speak 
of  Christ,  while  on  earth,  sometimes  as  a  man,  ascribing  to  Him 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHE8U8.  151 

the  characteristics  of  man's  finite  and  limited  nature ;  and  some- 
times as  God,  attributing  to  Him  the  glorious  and  stupendous 
characteristics  of  the  Infinite  Nature :  beyond  this,  into  regions  of 
speculative  philosophy,  they  did  not  go.  Still  the  question  was 
of  immense  importance,  since  the  obvious  consequence  of  fusion 
would  be  to  destroy,  at  least  partially,  one  or  the  other  nature,  or 
both,  and  thereby  overthrow  the  validity  of  the  Atonement.  As 
it  is  hardly  supposable  that  the  immutable  attributes  of  the  Deity 
should  undergo  altei-ation  of  any  kind,  the  human  nature  would 
be  the  one  affected  by  the  commixture ;  but  the  moment  this 
change  should  take  place  the  humanity  would  disappear  as  to  its 
entirety,  leaving  behind  certain  portions  only  of  its  mutilated 
organism.  Indeed,  it  does  not  seem  clear  but  that  as,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  mutilated  nature  would  be  converted  into  something 
else  by  subtraction,  so  on  the  other,  the  absorbing  essence  would 
be  converted  into  something  other  than  itself  by  addition  ;  and 
that  therefore  the  grand  resultant  would  be  a  third  somewliat^ 
neither  divine  nor  human.  Tliere  is  this  to  be  said  in  behalf  of  the 
fusion  theory,  that  it  is  difiicult  to  imagine  that  even  perfect,  spot- 
less humanity  could  endure  the  unveiled  presence  of  divinity,  and 
that  the  incomparably  greater  is  likely  always  to  overshadow  the 
less,  and  sraduallv  mould  it  into  a  likeness  unto  itself;  which  is 
certainly  truth,  though  not  in  the  realistic  sense  in  which  its  ad- 
vocates must  be  understood  to  speak.  Perceiving  the  evil  tend- 
encies of  such  a  theory  which  are  open  to  the  view  of  any  person 
who  will  devote  a  serious  thought  to  the  subject,  and  perceiving 
apparently  that  some  such  ideas  lay  latent  in  the  Apollinarian 
heresy,  the  great  Antiochene  doctor,  Theodore,  who  was  after- 
wards bishop  of  Mopsnestia,  took  refuge  in  a  theory  which  may 
be  styled  the  Contradictory-opposite  of  the  one  he  sought  to  sub- 
vert. In  order  to  protest  most  effectually  against  the  doctrine  of 
one  nature  compounded  out  of  two,  he  resorted  to  that  theory 
which  not  only  preserves  the  distinction  of  the  two  natures,  but 
distinguishes  also  between  the  personalities.  In  this  Cerinthus 
had  been  his  forerunner,  he  teaching  that  the  ^on  Christ  de- 
scended upon  the  man  Jesus  at  His  baptism,  and  left  Him  again 
prior  to  His  crucifixion.  Theodore  certainly  stopped  much  short 
of  that  blasphemy,  for  His  preexistent  being  was  no  ^on,  but  the 
eternal,  homoousian  God,  and,  according  to  him,  the  union,  taking 
place  at  the  moment  of  conception,  was  to  continue  forever ;  and 


152  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH 

yet  his  main  tliouglit,  the  separation  of  the  personalities,  might 
liave  been  suggested  to  him  by  a  perusal  of  Irena^us's  exposition  of 
the  Cerinthian  heresy.  Allowing;  that  the  man  Christ  Jesus  was 
not  an  individual  being,  since  He  was  possessed  of  a  double  per- 
sonality, the  next  step  is  to  determine  the  character  of  the  con- 
nection between  the  two  persons ;  for  some  connection  there  most 
assuredly  was.  Conceivably  it  might  be  nothing  more  than  that 
which  exists  when  the  Holy  Spirit  dwells  within  the  believer. 
Theodore  did  not  take  that  view  of  the  union,  but  declared  that 
it  was  higher  and  more  perfect,  while  he  insisted  that  it  was  not 
a  pei-sonal  one  at  all,  but  merely  a  friendly  association,  or  at  most 
one  of  affection  and  will.  Ilow  such  an  explanation  could  be 
made  to  agree,  for  instance,  with  St,  John's  declaration  that  the 
"  "Word  became  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us,"  or  how  a  valid  atone- 
ment could  be  based  upon  such  a  union  of  friendship,  the  learned 
man  never  showed.  Evidently,  if  God  the  Son  was  a  separate 
individual  from  Jesus  the  son  of  Mary,  then  the  son  of  Mary  was 
a  mere  man,  a  pure  and  righteous  man,  but  no  more  ;  and  conse- 
quently his  death  could  no  more  have  blotted  out  the  transgres- 
sions of  our  fallen  race  than  that  of  any  other  creature  could  have 
done.  The  Arian  with  a  leaning  towards  orthodoxy  would 
probably  have  to  surmount  fewer  intellectual  obstacles  in  ac- 
cepting the  consubstantiality  of  the  Son  of  God,  were  He  under- 
stood to  be  united  with  the  visible  and  mortal  Christ  only  by  the 
no-union  of  friendship  ;  but  his  adherence  would  be  gained  at  the 
price  of  a  subverted  Faith,  for  the  Christian  religion  can  stand  on 
no  other  basis  than  that  of  a  genuine  personal  union,  which  con- 
stitutes the  exalted  being  at  once  God,  with  no  attribute  lost,  and 
man,  with  none  of  his  qualities  merged  ;  or  what  is  called  in  tech- 
nical divinity  the  Ilj'postatical  Union, 

This  system  of  doctrine  we  have  ascribed  to  Theodore  of 
Mopsuestia,  because  he  was  really  the  originator  thereof  whether 
he  actually  held  it  himself  in  its  entirety,  or  not.  From  him  it 
was  learned  by  Nestorius  and  Theodoret  of  Cyrus,  the  former 
becoming  its  great  apostle  upon  his  promotion  to  the  see  of  Con- 
stantinople, Xestorius  seems  to  have  been  a  vain,  impulsive  man, 
lacking  in  self-control,  though  not  devoid  of  talent,  energy,  and 
eloquence.  There  had  followed  him  from  Antioch  a  presbyter  in 
whom  he  had  chosen  to  put  much  confidence,  Anastasius  by  name, 
who  took  occasion  one  day  in  a  sermon  to  condemn  an  ex-pression 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPEESUS.  153 

wliicli  was  in  vogue  among  the  Catholics.  Nestorius  supported 
him,  and  created  great  excitement  by  deHvering  a  course  of  ser- 
mons in  which  he  trod  the  same  path ;  and  was  accused  by  Euse- 
bius  of  Dorylseum  of  reviving  the  ancient  heresy  broached  by 
Paul  of  Samosata,  who  had  taught,  in  the  third  century,  that 
Christ  was  a  mere  man  upon  whom  descended  a  certain  divine 
influence  which  endowed  him  with  extraordinary  gifts.  The 
commotion  soon  extends  its  concentric  waves  across  the  sea,  and 
arouses  the  impetuous  Cyril,  who  is  seen  to  leap  up  and  bound 
forward  with  the  joy  of  a  charger  who  scents  the  battle. 

The  term  against  which  exception  was  taken  had  the  sanction 
of  Athanasius,  most  orthodox  of  men,  of  the  two  Gregories,  and 
even  of  temporizing  Eusebius  Pamphilus,  none  of  whom  had 
scrupled  to  call  the  Virgin  Mary  Theotokos  (^eoroKoc;),  or  Mother 
of  God.  He  who  should  surmise  tliat  the  approaching  contest  is 
to  turn  upon  the  honor  due  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  would  be  guilty 
of  mistaking  Ephesus  for  Trent,  and  the  fifth  century  for  the  six- 
teenth. It  is  true  that  the  Chui'ch  had  never  intermitted  its  deep 
respect  towards  her  who  was  chosen  for  the  exalted  privilege  of 
giving  birth  to  the  Lord  of  glory,  had  never  forgotten  the  con- 
gratulatory tone  of  the  angel  Gabriel's  salutation ;  "  Ilail  thou 
that  art  highly  favored,  the  Lord  is  with  thee :  blessed  art  thou 
among  women ; "  and  had  as  far  as  time  permitted  verified  her 
own  prophecy,  "  From  henceforth  all  generations  shall  call  me 
blessed ; "  and  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  a  growing  reverence  for 
the  Virgin-mother  pervaded  the  ranks  especially  of  the  celibate 
clergy  and  the  monks,  whose  natural  affections,  forbidden  to  dis- 
play themselves  as  the  Creator  designed,  turned  spontaneously 
towards  any  object  that  could  even  partially  appease  the  yearn- 
ings of  their  hearts ;  but  it  is  certain  that  the  Nestorian  contro- 
versy did  not  hinge  upon  the  question  of  duly  honoring  the 
Virgin,  but  upon  that  of  the  Hypostatical  Union. 

The  phrase  was  a  favorite  one  in  Alexandria,  where  it  was 
used  against  the  Arians  as  an  assertion  of  the  full  divinity  of  the 
Saviour.  What  was  born  of  the  Virgin  was  the  manhood :  if, 
then,  the  Virgin  were  called  Mother  of  God,  no  better  method 
could  be  devised  of  proclaiming  that  Christ  was  both  man  and 
God.  ]^o  one  who  used  the  term  meant  to  declare  that  Mary 
gave  birth  to  His  Godhead,  an  idea  both  absurd  and  blasphemous ; 
but  simply  that,  while  she  was  distinctively  the  human  parent  of 


154:  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

His  Immanity,  tbat  lioly  thing  which  was  horn  of  her  was  "  Em- 
manuel," God  with  us  J  "Jehoshua,"  God  our  Saviour.  It  may 
be  objected  that,  unless  Mary  was  the  mother  of  Christ's  divinity, 
we  ought  not  to  call  her  the  Mother  of  God.  Those  who  adduce 
such  an  objection  either  forget  what  is  signified  b}'  Personality^ 
or  else  believe,  with  Theodore  and  Nestorius,  that  He  was  not  a 
single,  but  a  double,  person.  Of  course,  if  the  Lord  had  within 
Him  two  distinct  individualities,  as  well  as  two  separate  substances, 
then  what  happened  to  one  of  the  allied  individuals  did  not  affect 
the  other,  unless  it  happened  also  to  Him :  if  the  Son  of  God  con- 
joined Himself  with  a  preexistent  (existing  before  the  union)  man, 
then  the  sufferings  of  the  man  were  no  more  the  sufferings  of 
God,  in  strict  propriety,  than  the  hunger  or  fatigue  of  Jonathan 
was  the  hunger  or  fatigue  of  David.  On  the  contrary,  in  the 
same  way  that  the  whole  man  is  cold  when  his  body  is,  or  sleepy 
when  his  brain  is,  or  penitent  when  his  soul  is,  or  angry  when  his 
lieart  is,  just  so  the  wliole  Christy  God  and  man,  did  whatever 
either  nature  did,  or  suffered  whatever  either  nature  suffered,  and 
in  general  was  affected  by  whatever  touched  either  side  of  his 
duplex  personality.  Is  this  a  quibble  ?  So,  then,  is  it  a  quibble 
to  say  that  whatever  modifies  in  any  degree  one  part  of  the  body 
necessarily  disturbs  the  whole.  If  you  plough  a  man's  back  with 
a  rawhide,  do  you  not  torture  him  f  If  you  fill  his  stomach  with 
an  abundance  of  savory  dishes,  do  you  not  feed  him  ?  If  the 
hangman  breaks  the  spinal  cord,  do  we  say  that  he  kills  only  the 
body  ?  If  he  does  not  kill  the  soul,  lie  does  kill  the  person  whose 
the  soul  and  body  are.  The  grand  principle,  which  is  known  as 
that  of  the  Interchange  of  Ailrihuits  (Comumnicatio  Idiomatum), 
is  that  that  which  can  be  predicated  of  either  nature  can  be  predi- 
cated, not  of  the  other  nature,  but  of  the  person  who  possesses 
them  both  and  is  made  up  of  them  both.  Thus,  when  the  Master 
lay  in  the  hinder  part  of  the  storm-tossed  bark,  it  would  be  im- 
proper to  say  that  the  Godhead  or  divine  nature  was  asleep,  but 
entirely  consonant  with  the  Scriptures  to  record  that  God  was 
asleep,  for  such  an  expression  does  no  violence  to  the  fact,  unless 
St.  Paul  erred  when  he  spoke  of  the  "  Church  of  God  which  He 
hath  purchased  with  His  own  blood."  And  now  we  have  pierced 
to  the  marrow  of  the  whole  subject,  since,  unless  God  died  for 
man,  man  is  not  saved.  This  was  the  very  reason  that  the  eter- 
nal and  only -begotten  Son  of  God  dwelt  in  the  virginal  womb ; 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHE8U8.  155 

He  tlius  humiliating  Himself  in  order  that  He  Himself,  and  no 
one  else,  might  be  capable  of  suffering  and  death.  As  the  learned 
and  pious  Hooker  teaches  us,  the  infinite  nature  endured  no 
intrinsic  change  whatever  by  the  incarnation,  neither  was  the 
human  altered  by  His  assuming  it,  only  the  latter  was  dignified 
and  perfected  by  the  union,  and  the  former,  though  not  lowered 
at  all,  acquired  capacities  far  beneath  it,  such  as  those  we  have 
mentioned,  which  could  be  best  obtained  in  that  way.  In  fine, 
while  no  one  would  have  committed  the  gross  mistake  of  calling 
the  blessed  Virgin  mother  of  the  divine  nature,  the  most  rational, 
cautious,  and  orthodox  might  justly  entitle  her  Mother  of  God, 
and  might  properly  insist  upon  such  phraseology  as  an  excellent 
defense  of  the  Unipersonality  and  of  the  Atonement,  and  per- 
emptorily reject  the  Nestorian  substitute  ChristotoJcos,  or  Mother 
of  Christ,  as  insufiicient,  and  even  as  partaking  of  heresy  when 
intended  as  a  denial  of  the  Theotokos. 

The  controversy  being  now  fairly  kindled,  the  first  step  was 
that  of  an  appeal  by  both  parties  to  Celestine  I.,  the  bishop  of 
Rome.  It  is  almost  amusing  to  observe  the  deference  so  skillfully 
manifested  by  the  haughty  prelate  of  Alexandria  in  his  address  to 
the  great  patriarch  of  the  West.  Cyril's  conduct  in  the  affair 
shows  conclusively  that  he  was  perfectly  capable  of  curbing  his 
violent  temper  whenever  his  interest  demanded  of  him  that  sacri- 
fice. Strange  as  such  a  reference  may  seem  to  us,  it  was  most 
natural  under  the  circumstances.  A  number  of  causes  had  united 
to  raise  the  Roman  bishop  in  the  estimation  of  mankind,  and  to 
give  him  a  very  decided  influence  throughout  the  Christian  world. 
The  first  of  these  was  the  preeminent  importance  of  the  city  over 
which  he  ruled.  It  is  impossible  that  great  and  concentrated  com- 
munities, compacted  within  narrow  limits,  possessed  of  the  usual 
facilities  afforded  by  such  condensation  for  interchange  of  the  prod- 
ucts of  mind,  artistic  skill,  industry,  and  nature,  should  not  rule 
the  districts  in  which  they  are.  It  never  has  been  otherwise,  and 
never  will  be,  so  long  as  talent  and  genius  flow  as  naturally 
towards  such  centres  as  the  produce  of  market-gardens,  of  factories, 
and  of  broad  and  fertile  acres  tends  irresistibly  thitherward.  As 
Rome,  therefore,  was  the  greatest  city  of  all  antiquity,  her  influence 
would  be  the  widest  and  weightiest,  her  prestige  remaining  almost 
untarnished  long  after  the  Port  of  Ostia  had  begun  to  lament 
over  the  decreased  shipping.     Religious  influence,  being  subject 


156  THE  CHURCH  AXD   THE  FAITH. 

to  the  same  general  laws  as  any  other  species,  would  emanate  in 
equal  degree  from  the  great  cities;  an  assertion  which  is  supported 
bj  the  fact  that  the  five  patriarchates  were  ranked,  in  utter  disregard 
of  considerations  which  might  be  thought  paramount,  precisely 
in    accordance   with   the   importance   of  Rome,   Constantinople, 
Alexandria,  Antioch,  and  Jerusalem.     A  second  cause  was  that, 
when  Maximian  fled  from  the  sturdy  independence  of  the  Senate 
and  people  of  Rome,  in  order  that  he  miglit  inscribe  himself  Im~ 
l^eratoi\  in  an  absolute  sense,  upon  the  batlis  and  public  buildings 
with  which  he  adorned  Milan,  and  when  llonorius  ensconced  him- 
self behind  the  impassable  marshes  of  the  Po,  removing  his  cap- 
ital to  Ravenna,  they  left  the  Bishop  of  the  Seven-hilled  City  to 
gather  around  his  own  head  all  the  traditional  and  actual  glory  of 
the  world's  metropolis.     Every  visitor  who  came  thither,  impelled 
by  curiosity  or  lured  by  hope  of  ])rofit,  found  the  successor  of  St. 
Peter  exacting  more  homage  than  had  been  willingly  conceded  to 
any  Cji'sar   or  Augustus  of  all   the   long   line.      Whatever  eye 
turned  from  the  most  distant  province  towards  the  ancient  seat 
of  empire,  was  caught  at  once  by  the  brightness  which  had  re- 
moved from  the  deserted  residence  of  the  Antonines  to  hover 
above  the  rising  state  of  the  episcopal  palace.     A  third  reason  of 
the  growing  importance  of  that  patriarchate  was  that  it  had  none 
to  dispute  with  it  the  allegiance  of  the  AVest ;   that  while  four 
rival  patriarchates  divided  between  them  Egypt,  Syria,  Asia  Minor, 
and  the  remaining  portions  of  the  Greek-speaking  empire,  Rome 
was,  as  of  old,  queen  of  the  whole  vast,  loyal  Latin  world  from 
Carthage  to  Aries  and  Corduba.     A  fourth  may  be  found  in  the 
circumstance  that  her  isolated  position  had  helped  to  keep  her 
aloof  from  the  undignified  quarrels  which  had  too  often  weakened 
and  debased  the  ambitious  potentates  of  the  East.     The  fifth,  and 
one  of  the  most  noteworthy,  rests  upon  the  undeniable  excellence 
of  many  early  occupants  of  the  bishopric  ;  not  that  they  were  men 
of  extraordinary  ability,  only  that  they  were  almost  invariably 
characterized   by  respectable    attainments,   fair   average   endow- 
ments, and,  above  all,  by  unimpeached  orthodoxy.     While  few  of 
them  had  risen  above  mediocrity,  scarcely  any,  perhaps  none,  had 
failed  to  reach  it ;  many  had  won  the  amaranthine  crown  of  mar- 
t_yrdom;   and  there  was  hardly  an  instance  on  record  in  which 
their  voices  had   not,  upon  opportunity,  been   given    clear  and 
strouo;  for  that  view  of  doctrine  which  has  received  the  approval 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPEESUS.  15Y 

of  tlie  ages  and  been  stamped  as  Catliolic  Truth.  Cjril  might, 
then,  without  ignominy,  have  honestly  deferred  to  the  judgment 
of  the  gi-eat  Latin  patriarch,  who,  as  bishop  of  the  world's  metrop- 
olis, could  properly  claim  the  iirst  place  among  his  brother  patri- 
archs, and,  as  successor  of  a  long  roll  of  worthy  and  orthodox 
witnesses  to  the  Faith  which  was  once  delivered  to  the  saints, 
might  well  challenge  the  attention  of  Cliristendom. 

Celestine  responded  to  Cyril  favorably,  and  even  presumed  to 
appoint  him  his  delegate  to  execute  the  sentence  of  deposition 
pronounced  against  the  patriarch  Kestorius  by  himself  and  a 
Koman  synod,  to  take  effect  in  case  he  should  not  retract  within 
ten  days.  John  of  Antioch  and  other  Eastern  bishops,  in  reply 
to  letters  which  Cyril  had  sent  to  them,  condemned  the  course 
which  had  been  taken  by  the  accused.  At  this  stage  of  the  pro- 
ceedings a  royal  mandate,  issued  jointly  by  the  two  monarchs,  sum- 
moned a  general  council. 

With  Yalentinian  III.,  then  emperor  of  the  West,  we  have  little 
concern,  but  in  Theodosius  the  Younger  we  are  interested  as  the 
one  under  whose  anspices  the  whole  question  of  the  Nestorian 
controversy  was  argued  by  the  parties  thereto.  The  reader  who 
is  familiar  with  the  history  of  James  I.  of  England,  will  have  little 
difficulty  in  forming  an  adequate  conception  of  Theodosius  11. 
Like  the  royal  Stuart,  this  grandson  of  the  great  Theodosius  was 
an  exemplary,  devout,  scholarly  man,  little  fitted  for  holding  the 
helm  of  state ;  an  occupation  for  which  he  had  little  ability,  and 
still  less  inclination.  Fortunately  for  the  dominion,  the  talents 
of  the  family  had  descended  to  Pulcheria,  who  for  nearly  forty 
years  ruled  in  the  name  of  her  brother.  There  was  no  variance 
between  the  real  and  nominal  sovereigns  in  regard  to  piety  and 
orthodoxy,  both  being  unswerving  and  enthusiastic  in  maintaining 
the  Homoousion  and  the  entire  Catholic  belief.  However,  it 
seems  a  just  subject  of  regret  that  the  reins  of  power  were  held  in 
a  hand  slack  enough  to  permit  the  Alexandrian  prelate  to  adopt 
such  a  domineering  and  violent  course  as  would  speedily  have 
brought  down  upon  him  the  mailed  fist  of  a  more  vigorous  ruler. 
We  may  conjecture  that  the  sad  scenes  of  Ephesus  would  never 
have  occurred,  had  Constantino  or  the  great  Orthodox  Emperor 
still  held  the  throne  on  the  other  side  of  the  Bosporus. 

A  more  convenient  place  could  hardly  have  been  chosen  for  the 
holding  of  the  Third  General  Council  than  the  city  so  famed  for  the 


158  THE  CHUECH  AND  TEE  FAITH. 

worsliip  of  the  goddess  Diana.  Lying  among  and  npon  the  hills 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Cayster,  Ephesus  was  readily  accessible 
from  both  of  the  great  maritime  emporiums,  while,  by  means  of 
the  two  great  roads,  running  to  Sardis  and  thence  northeast 
towards  the  provinces  on  the  Euxine,  and  to  Magnesia,  and  from 
that  city  to  either  Sp'ia  or  the  far  East,  it  could  easily  be  reached 
by  John  of  Antioch  and  the  other  Oriental  dignitaries.  Nestorius 
displayed  his  vain  confidence  by  presenting  himself  on  the  ground 
more  than  a  month  earlier  than  the  appointed  time,  which  was 
Whitsuntide,  a.d.  431.  Cyril  was  careful  to  arrive  promptly, 
bringing  with  hira  a  large  company  of  bishops  and  an  imposing 
phalanx  of  followers.  Memnon,  who  occupied  the  chair  of  Timo- 
thy, St.  Paul's  beloved  son  in  the  faith,  gathered  about  him  forty 
of  his  snflfragans.  Celestine  was  to  be  represented  by  two  bishops 
and  a  presbyter.  Tlieodoret,  whose  name  now  appears  among 
the  most  noted  leaders  of  the  new  heresy,  was  present  from  Cyrus. 
And  Candidian,  count  of  the  domestics,  was  in  the  city,  commis- 
sioned to  act  as  a  sort  of  chief  of  police.  Two  hundred  bishops 
were  already  assembled,  l)ut  John  had  not  yet  accomplished  his 
thirty  days'  journey  by  land  from  the  banks  of  the  Orontes,  though 
a  letter  from  him  had  been  received  signifying  his  purpose  to 
attend.  As  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople  was  to  be  arraigned 
before  the  Council,  the  presidency,  which  would  otherwise  have 
been  his,  devolved  upon  Cyril  as  the  next  in  order.  His  first  act 
does  not  impress  us  with  a  sense  of  Ins  fairness  or  of  his  regard 
for  the  requirements  of  courtesy.  Although  John  of  Antioch, 
with  some  fourteen  bishops  in  his  train,  was  known  to  be  within 
a  few  days'  journey,  and  notwithstanding  that  he  had  politely 
given  written  expression  to  his  regret  for  his  tardiness,  Cyril, 
having  too  much  reason  to  think  that  his  brother  of  Antioch  did 
not  altogether  coincide  with  him  in  his  opinions,  or  at  least  did 
not  altogether  approve  of  his  conduct,  resolved,  if  possible,  to 
hurry  the  whole  matter  through  before  the  Syrians  could  inter- 
fere with  his  plans.  Overriding  the  protests  of  nearly  a  third  of 
the  bishops,  of  Xestorius,  and  of  the  Imperial  Legate,  Cyril  con- 
voked the  Council  on  the  22d  of  June  in  the  very  church  which 
was  supposed  to  have  contained  the  mortal  remains  of  St.  Mary. 
That  one  day  sufficed  for  the  condemnation  of  Xestorianism  and 
the  deposition  of  Nestorius  himself,  his  sentence  being  signed  by 
one  hundred  and  ninety-eight  bishops.     John,  arriving  on  the 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHESUS.  I59 

fifth  day,  was  much  incensed  by  the  disrespect  that  had  been 
shown  him,  and  shocked  at  the  hastiness  with  which  such  impor- 
tant affairs  had  been  transacted.     With  his  own  followers,  and 
others  who  had  joined  his  party,  he  held  an  opposition  council, 
which  received  a  report  of  the  late  proceedings  from  Candidian. 
It  retaliated   upon   Cyril    his   own   measures,    condemning    and 
deposing  him  and  Meranon,  but  contenting  itself  with  passing  the 
gentler  sentence,  upon  the  rest  of  the  two  hundred,  of  excommu- 
nication till  such  time  as  they  should  consent  to  condemn  the 
anathemas  of  Cyril  and  his   Alexandrian  synod.     Both  parties 
appealed  to  the  court :  however,  with  regard  to  the  orthodox,  it 
can  hardly  be  said  that  they  went  any  further  than  merely  to  ask 
imperial  favor  and  countenance,  for  they  absolutely  declined  to 
argue  their  case  before  the  emperor,  insisting  that,  the  Council 
having  spoken,  the  matter  was  res  judicata,  a  thing  determined. 
The  commissioner  made  his  report.     On  the  10th  of  July  a  sec- 
ond  session   was   held,    the   Western   deputies    having   arrived. 
These  were  warmly  welcomed,  and  gave  the  approval  of  the  Latin 
Church  to  the  measures  of  Cyril.     The  bishops  were  obliged  to 
endure  the  extreme  heat  and  close  confinement  of  Ephesus  during 
the  remainder  of  the  summer :  they  passed  the  time  in  hurling 
anathemas,  if  not  more  substantial  missiles,  at  each  other's  heads, 
and  enacting  scenes  that  among  Christian  men  are  only  possible 
when  the  strongest  passions  of  their  natures  are  aroused  in  defense 
of  a  holy  cause,  which  seems  to  them  to  be  in  deadly  peril  unless 
their  arms  hew  down  its  "assailants.     The  Alexandrian   party, 
exulting  in  numerical  superiority  and  in  at  least  partial  victory, 
was  in  no  temper  to  make  the  conciliatory  advances  which  it  could 
so  creditably  and  gracefully  have  offered ;  while  the  Antiochene 
displayed  an    obstinacy  not  calculated  to  invite  to  such  a  step. 
Meanwhile  the  former  was  slowly  winning  the  ascendency  at  Con- 
stantinople, overcoming  soon  the  prepossession  which  Candidian's 
report  must  have  created  in  any  unprejudiced  bosom  against  the 
precipitancy  and  harshness  of  its  action.     The  principal  agencies 
in   working   this  change  were,  to  speak   honestly  and   plainly', 
fanaticism   and    bribery.     For    reasons    already   suggested,   the 
monastic  orders  were  eager  partisans  of  the  Theotokos.     Upon 
the  receipt  at  Constantinople  of  a  letter  containing  an  account  of 
the  proceedings  in  Ephesus,  the  monks  rose  in  mass  and  marched 
to  the  palace,  with  a  noted  abbot  as  their  chief  spokesman.    As  an 


160  THE  CEURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

angry  mob  is  not  to  be  safely  disregarded  eren  by  the  most  popu- 
lar and  potent  ruler,  Dalmatius  and  Lis  fellow  abbots  were  no 
despicable  auxiliaries  of  Cyril  and  Memnon.  But  there  is  a  force 
which  may  claim  greater  efficiency  than  even  fanaticism,  one 
which  seldom  fails,  when  judiciously  and  unsparingly  applied,  of 
removing  every  obstacle  that  can  be  intei*posed  by  custom,  tra- 
dition, self-respect,  fear,  the  spirit  of  justice,  resoluteness,  obstinacy, 
anything,  in  short,  but  firm  religious  principle  supported  by  divine 
grace.  If  Cyril  stooped  to  the  free  employment  of  money  in  buy- 
ing up  influential  persons  about  court,  his  success  was  assured 
before  he  made  the  first  movement.  One,  however,  did  not  need 
to  be  bought  of  those  nearest  the  royal  ear,  for  Pulcheria  had 
taken  offense  at  some  act  or  speech  of  Nestorius.  Finally  the 
emperor  prorogued  the  assembly,  without  definitely  declaring  in 
favor  of  either  side,  but  suffered  Cvril  and  Memnon  to  retain  their 
sees,  and  Maximian  to  be  consecrated  patriarch  of  Constantinople. 
It  is  hardly  possible  to  regard  this  council  with  complacency. 
The  sight  of  lioly  fathers-in-God  so  demeaning  themselves  as  to 
compel  the  civil  power  to  inteq^ose  and  incarcerate  them,  march- 
ing through  the  streets  with  bands  of  sailors,  peasants,  or  monks 
at  their  heels,  to  fight  over  the  sublimest  dogmas  of  our  holy  re- 
lioion,  adorninir  each  other  with  such  epithets  as  only  ruffians  use 
towards  those  who  have  incurred  their  hatred,  and  expending 
vast  sums  of  money  contributed  to  the  Lord's  treasury  by  the 
liberality  of  the  faithful  in  purchasing  court  influence,  is  not  an 
attractive  one.  Is  it  not  possible  that  the  dark  pigment  has  been 
too  lavishly  employed  in  depicting  the  Council  of  Ephesus  ?  One 
incident  looks  that  way,  the  difficulty  found  by  Cyril  and  his  ad- 
herents in  getting  their  letter  into  Theodosius's  hands.  Why,  we 
at  once  ask,  if  they  could  have  so  little  to  urge  in  their  own  de- 
fense, was  Candidian  so  anxious  to  suppress  the  missive  ?  Why 
was  it  thought  necessary  at  last  to  enclose  the  epistle  in  a  hollow 
stafr",  and  entrust  it  to  a  beggar  ?  Was  this  an  artful  device,  a 
mere  feigning  of  duress?  Into  such  questions  we  will  not  enter, 
for,  let  Cyril  be  as  bad  as  fancy  can  paint  him,  he  may  neverthe- 
less have  been  on  the  right  side,  and  have  achieved  a  real  victory 
for  the  truth,  since  evil  men  are  sometimes  right,  and  may  as- 
suredly be  used  by  their  Creator  as  tools  with  which  to  work  out 
His  all-wise  plans ;  and  let  the  council  have  been  ever  so  unfair, 
irregular,  ill-conducted,  it  may  still  have  truly  uttered  the  witness- 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHE8U8.  161 

ing  voice  of  the  Churcli,  as  long  as  the  theory  stands  nnshaken  that 
the  one  thing  which  constitutes  a  council  CEcumenical  is  that  its 
decisions  should  have  been  accepted  by  the  Church  at  large.  We 
are  not  obliged  to  maintain  the  justness  of  Nestorius's  condemna- 
tion, nor  the  propriety  of  Cyril's  anathemas,  but  may  frankly  confess 
that  the  accused  was  probably  not  guilty  of  the  great  aberrations 
from  the  faith  which  were  laid  to  his  charge  ;  and  that  his  accuser 
manifested  the  extravagant  malice  of  personal  enmity  rather  than 
the  reluctant  indignation  of  one  who  seeks  to  reclaim  and  not  to 
punish ;  and  yet  hold  firmly  to  the  authoritativeness  of  the  Council 
as  to  those  points  of  fundamental  doctrine  upon  which  it  did  speak. 
Tliere  has  been  no  permanent  gift  of  discerning  spirits  confided 
to  the  Church,  nor  is  there  any  reason  to  think  that  the  whole 
Church  might  not  be  mistaken  as  to  the  guilt  or  innocence  of 
even  the  most  widely  known  of  all  her  sons ;  there  has  been  no 
promise  made  to  her  that  she  shall  never  adopt  rules  of  discipline 
or  forms  of  worship  that  are  not  the  most  advisable,  so  that  it 
should  be  disloval  to  believe  that  she  has  given  her  sanction  to 
measures  of  ritual  or  discipline  which  a  little  foresight  would 
have  taught  her  to  shun  ;  but  tliere  has  been  an  assurance  given 
her  that  she  shall  not  err  in  vital  doctrine,  and  in  that  respect, 
and  that  alone,  we  ought  to  confide  implicitly  in  her  determina- 
tions. Her  function  is  to  witness  unto  the  truth, — not  to  mal'e 
truth,  scarcely  even  to  reason  about  it, — but  simply  and  chiefly  to 
declare  what  it  ?s,  what  was  entrusted  to  her  safe-keeping  as  the 
revealed  truth  of  God.  As  long  as  she  confines  herself  to  bearing 
such  testimony,  she  ought  to  be  heard  with  the  deference  due  to 
a  divine  oracle,  though  the  instant  she  treads  outside  of  this  do- 
main we  may  claim  to  examine  her  action,  and  weigh  her  reasons. 
"When  the  Council  of  Ephesus,  witnessing  to  the  truth  of  the 
Incarnation,  sanctioned  the  nse  of  the  term  Theotokos,  it  defined 
authoritatively  the  Catholic  Faith,  provided  the  Christian  world 
should  add  its  approval  of  the  decision  ;  but  when  it  condemned 
Nestorius  as  a  heretic,  it  was  exposed  to  the  nsual  risks  of  a 
human  tribunal,  and  may  have  pronounced  a  sentence  wholly 
unjust  even  to  that  vain  and  arrogant  prelate. 

The  skeptic  may  amuse  himself  by  slyly  aiming  the  shafts  of 
his  ridicule  at  the  Inf^j)iration  of  such  a  synod,  seeming  to  ask 
all  the  time  that  he  is  recounting  the  unseemly  incidents  of  its 
sessions.  Does  this  look  as  if  God  had  much  to  do  with  the  direct- 


162  TEE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH 

ing  of  these  deliberations  ?  or,  while  he  is  dilating  upon  some  of 
the  wretched  quarrels  that  filled  up  the  time  of  the  bishops'  long 
sojourn,  Are  these  the  deeds  of  reverend  prelates  in  whom  dwells 
the  plenary  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ?  Let  us  not  be  disturbed  by 
such  questions,  whether  they  be  the  sneering  objections  of  the 
scoffer,  or  the  honest  interrogatories  of  those  who  desire  to  obtain 
correct  views  of  a  matter  not  often  understood.  Undoubtedly, 
these  men  did  possess  no  small  share  of  God's  grace.  The  official 
acts  of  C^'ril,  or  Nestorius,  or  Memnon,  or  John  were  just  as 
effective  as  though  suspicion  had  never  breathed  upon  their  fame ; 
and  if  the  men  could  convey  the  grace  of  regeneration,  of  conse- 
cration, and  of  ordination,  why  should  they  not  be  capable  of 
accurately  declaring  what  doctrine  they  had  received  from  those 
who  had  gone  before  them  ?  With  the  instances  of  Balaam  and 
Caiaphas  staring  us  in  the  face,  can  we  deny  that  the  Almighty 
sometimes  chooses  to  speak  by  the  mouths  of  bad  men  ?  Was 
not  Judas  an  Apostle?  Let  it,  however,  be  clearly  understood 
that  the  authoritativeness  of  the  decisions  does  not  depend  upon 
any  special  inspiration  residing  in  the  individual  members,  or  in 
all  collectively,  but  upon  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost  within 
the  entire  Church.  The  incrraljility  was  located  in  the  corporate 
body;  which  was  not  assembled  at  Ephesus,  but  was  scattered 
over  the  world,  and  was  not  involved  in  the  disgraceful  proceed- 
inijs  of  the  Council.  The  vast  numbers  of  Christians  who  had 
remained  at  home,  upon  hearing  with  grief  of  the  lamentable  oc- 
currences at  Ephesus,  would  be  liberated  by  such  intelligence 
from  those  feelings  of  reverential  regard  which  would  have  power- 
fully influenced  them  to  receive  without  close  scrutiny  the  de- 
terminations of  a  large,  learned,  able,  pious,  and  well-conducted 
assembly,  and  would  be  moved  to  examine  with  unusual  care 
whatever  was  put  forth  for  their  acceptance.  Therefore  the  very 
circumstances  which  are  dwelt  upon  as  undermining  the  authority 
of  the  Ephesian  Council  ought,  perhaps,  to  be  taken  as  placing 
the  correctness  of  its  action  in  condemning  the  doctrine  of  the 
two-fold  personality  upon  the  most  immutable  of  bases. 

Separating  without  having  reached  a  friendly  understanding, 
the  members  carried  with  them  back  to  their  homes,  to  be  dis- 
seminated among  their  flocks,  the  animosities  which  had  blazed 
up  so  fiercely  and  burned  on  so  relentlessly.  Prompted  by  a 
desire  to  appease  a  strife  injurious  to  the  public  welfare,  and  by 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPEESU8.  163 

the  pious  hope  of  realizing  the  promise  made  to  those  who  shall 
play  the  part  of  mediator,  Theodosius  nobly  strove  to  reconcile 
the  hostile  parties,  and  at  last  had  the  reward  of  seeing  the  two 
leaders  bury  their  weapons.  The  pacification  was  almost  a  com- 
plete triumph  for  Cyril,  as  he  did  httle  more  than  explain  what 
he  meant  by  certain  phrases  which  he  had  used,  while  John  actu- 
ally gave  his  approval  to  the  condemnation  of  Nestorius  and  the 
ordination  of  Maximian.  These  concessions  displeased  both  sides, 
Isidore  of  Pelusium  taking  Cyril  to  task,  while  Theodoret  rebuked 
John  for  deserting  the  deposed  bishops.  However,  by  the  assist- 
ance of  the  civil  authority,  the  treaty,  made  in  433,  was  enforced, 
and  unity  was  restored  about  two  years  later,  the  flames  of  dis- 
cord being  smothered,  at  least,  if  not  extinguished. 

Nestorianism  itself  did  not  die  thus  easily,  but  retreating  to 
the  eastern  confines  of  the  empire,  found  an  asylum  in  the  school 
of  Edessa,  Ibas,  bishop  and  master,  patronizing  it,  and  greatly  aid- 
ing its  spread  by  the  translation  of  some  works  of  Diodorus  of 
Tarsus  and  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia  into  Syriac.  It  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that  this  heresy  was  thoroughly  suppressed  in  the  East- 
ern empire  by  the  adverse  edicts  of  Theodosius :  on  the  contrary, 
every  province  contained  probably  some  congregations  which 
refused  to  surrender  their  belief  in  the  friendly  union  of  the  two 
personalities.  Still,  henceforth  the  heresy  fiourishes  mainly  in 
the  far  East,  beyond  the  Euphrates.  Edessa  became  a  hot-bed  for 
the  nurture  of  missionaries,  who  covered  Persia  and  Assyria.  In 
the  year  435,  this  school  being  temporarily  disbanded  by  Rabula, 
its  head,  who  was  a  strenuous  advocate  of  the  unipersonality,  Bar- 
sumas,  one  of  its  members,  retired  to  the  celebrated  city  of  Nisibis, 
which  had  been  the  bulwark  of  the  E,oman  imperium,  against  the 
Persians  till  it  was  ingloriously  ceded  to  Sapor  by  Jovian.  Being 
bishop  of  that  place,  he  became  the  foremost  of  the  Kestorian 
leaders,  secured  for  his  sect  the  protection  and  favor  of  the  Persian 
king,  Pherozes,  and  obtained  for  it  a  thorough  and  firm  establish- 
ment in  his  realm,  with  its  patriarch  (called  by  the  name  of  Catlio- 
lic)  holding  his  seat  in  the  twin  cities,  on  opposite  banks  of  the 
Tigris,  Selencia  and  Ctesiphon.  He  also  founded  another  semi- 
naiy  of  devoted  missionaries  by  erecting  the  important  school  at 
Nisibis.  Feeling  assured  that  the  attachment  of  the  Kestorians 
to  their  own  sovereign  had  been  forever  destroyed  by  the  harsh 
treatment  they  had  received,  the  throne  of  Persia  smiled  upon 


164:  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

tliem  with  peculiar  benignity.  Between  this  auspicious  circum- 
stance and  their  own  unbounded  zeal  and  self-sacrifice,  their  creed 
was  introduced  everywhere  with  marvelous  celerity  and  success, 
so  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  centuries  it  had  spread  into  ahnost 
every  corner  of  the  vast  Asiatic  continent,  and  promised  to  subju- 
gate the  many  myriads  of  inhabitants  which  throng  its  various 
countries.  Even  the  Celestial  Empire  in  vain  interposed  the  bar- 
rier of  its  exclusiveness  against  their  onward  march,  and  was  in- 
vaded by  them  through  the  port  of  Canton.  A  khan  of  Tartary 
becomes,  in  truth  or  fable,  converted  bv  them  into  that  notorious 
personage,  Prcster  John,  whose  portable  altar  accompanied  him 
in  his  nuirches.  The  ancient  superstition  of  the  Brahmins  was 
almost  as  powerless  to  check  their  advance  as  Persian  Magism  had 
shown  itself ;  for  when  the  Portuguese  lirst  pushed  their  advent- 
urous prows  to  the  coast  of  Malabar,  about  the  year  1500,  they 
found  there  a  flourishing  community,  calling  themselves  Christians 
of  St.  Thomas,  and  acknowledging  allegiance  to  the  Nestorian 
patriarch  of  Mosul.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  exact  tenets  of 
the  man  whom  history  has  designated  as  their  founder,  the  sect, 
after  some  disagreement  between  those  who  merely  said  that  the 
nature  of  the  union  between  the  two  persons  was  vnhioion  and 
those  who  positively  affirmed  that  it  was  nothing  more  than  one 
of  will  and  (iffectioii,  speedily  settled  down  into  a  final  and  com- 
plete adoption  of  the  latter  view.  Not  caring,  it  may  be  pre- 
sumed, to  be  known  as  the  theological  oftspring  of  any  man,  these 
heretics  rejected  the  name  Nestorians,  desiring  to  be  spoken  of  as 
Chaldaic  Christians. 

We  may  justly  lament  that  so  much  ardent  zeal  and  apostolic 
piety  were  lost  to  the  true  Church,  and  feel  tenderly  towards  an 
error  which  was  productive  of  so  much  good  in  bringing  so  many 
thousands  out  of  heathen  darkness  into  the  partial  light  of  their 
Christianity.  We  may  even  be  tempted  to  think  that  a  false  doc- 
trine which  has  given  birth  to  so  much  courage,  love,  and  energy 
cannot  be  very  inferior  to  the  true ;  and  that  we  must  be  mis- 
taken in  supposing  that  it  is  really  hostile  to  belief  in  the  Atone- 
ment, whereas  it  has  preached  Christ  for  many  centuries  with  a 
zeal  that  rebukes  the  coldness  of  those  who  hold  a  purer  faith. 
Let  us,  therefore,  remember  that  the  argument  which  proves 
Nestorianism  as  good  as  Catholicity  just  as  easily  shows  that 
Buddhism  or  Mohammedanism,  with  their  proselyting  ardor  and 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHESUS.  165 

rapid  spread,  are  as  good  as  Christianity.  If  Nestorianism  en- 
joyed a  remarkable  share  of  the  divine  blessing,  was  it  not  because, 
with  creditable  inconsistency,  its  advocates  taught  the  Christian 
religion  more  correctly  than  they  themselves  held  it  ?  Can  we 
tell  what  would  have  been  the  results  had  the  whole  Church 
tacitly  adopted  the  tenet  of  two  persons  in  Christ  ?  Has  not  the 
sect  been  preserved  by  the  unacknowledged  and  unsuspected 
influence  of  the  Catholic  Church  from  straying  yet  farther  away 
from  the  truth  ?  Instead  of  ridiculing  the  Fathers  of  Ephesus  for 
stickling  about  a  matter  far  too  unimportant  to  justify  them  in 
driving  a  large  number  of  earnest  Christians  out  of  the  fold,  let  us 
rather  direct  our  strictures  against  the  ungodly  temper  manifested 
by  those  who  should  have  been  to  the  flocks  patterns  of  all  the 
virtues.  What  might  not  a  little  exercising  of  forbearance,  pa- 
tience, and  self-control  have  efiected  in  winning  back  such  as  had 
begun  to  stray  ?  If,  instead  of  flinging  sharp  missiles  at  eacb  other, 
Cyril,  Nestorius,  and  John  had  approached  one  another  in  the 
spirit  of  brotherly  love,  might  not  the  whole  dispute  have  ended 
at  Ephesus  forever  ?  Cyril  and  John  at  least  appear  to  have  been 
separated  by  verv  slight  differences  of  opinion,  and  to  have  been 
kept  apart  mainly  by  official  jealousy.  Would  that  no  bishops 
had  ever  lifted  themselves  above  their  peers  to  such  a  height  of 
power  and  worldly  magnificence  !  Would  that  the  Church  of  God 
had  studiously  kept  aloof  from  all  the  allurements  of  earthly  am- 
bition !  The  wrong  was  not  in  vaKantly  or  steadfastly  maintain- 
ing the  truth  that  in  Christ  our  Lord  exists  only  a  single  person 
composed  of  two  natures,  nor  in  insisting  that  all  who  hoped  to 
enjoy  the  advantages  of  communion  must  accept  this  doctrine 
and  profess  it  too,  but  in  contending  for  it  with  arrogance,  bitter- 
ness, contemptuousness,  and  injustice ;  which  crime  perhaps  lies  at 
the  doors  of  some  of  the  staunchest  and  most  orthodox  champions 
of  the  Unipersonality. 

ISTestorianism  at  last  met  an  antagonist  too  powerful  for  it  to 
vanquish.  When  the  locusts  of  Mohammed  swept  like  a  plague 
over  the  Orient,  many  waving  fields  belonging  to  that  religion 
were  devoured  by  them.  That  terrible  wind  from  the  deserts  of 
Arabia  bore  down  many  a  stately  cedar  of  Catholicity,  and  ex- 
posed the  roots  of  many  a  tall  palm  of  Chaldaic  Christianity.  The 
Saracens,  it  is  true,  far  from  persecuting  the  !Nestorians,  decidedly 
favored  them  above  the  Greeks,  and  allowed  them  to  fix  the  seat 


166  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

of  a  patriarcli  at  Bagdad  and  at  Mosul ;  but  their  conquest  of 
Persia,  and  the  gradual  extension  of  their  religion  over  the  East, 
east  a  blight  upon  Nestorianism,  under  which  it  gradually  shrank 
and  decayed.  In  the  Xestorian  of  to-day,  whether  reconciled  to 
the  Patriarch  of  Rome  or  still  acknowledging  no  allegiance  except 
to  his  own  Elijah  or  Siineo7i,  or  whatever  name  may  be  the  offi- 
cial designation  of  his  ecclesiastical  superior,  we  would  hardly 
recognize  the  ideal  Nestorian  of  a  palmier  day. 

The  first  three  General  Councils  were  called  upon  to  defend 
the  faith  from  attacks  directed  against  that  which  had  been 
revealed  concerning  the  Son  of  God.  The  Second  had  also  been 
obliged  to  protect  the  doctrine  of  the  Third  Person  of  the  Holy 
and  Undivided  Trinity  from  presumptuous  assailants.  And  now 
the  Council  of  Ephesus  was  compelled  to  condemn  another  heresy, 
which  corresponded  to  the  Macedonian  very  much  as  Xestorian- 
ism  answered  to  Apollinarianism,  a  heresy  which,  if  it  did  not, 
like  the  Macedonian,  directly  concern  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  could  not  have  been  very  remote  from  that  subject,  inas- 
much as  it  had  regard  to  the  universality,  necessity,  and  nature 
of  his  working  upon  the  human  soul. 

Although  the  new  teaching  had  its  rise  in  the  West,  being  in 
this  particular  quite  remarkable,  it  did  not  originate  with  the 
Latin  race,  but  was  devised  by  a  memljer  of  one  of  the  tribes  which 
inhabited  the  barbarous  countries  of  Europe  when  Pome  first 
advanced  her  eagles  into  the  forests  of  Gaul  and  Germania. 
2fo/'(/an,  transferred  into  Greek,  becomes  JPelagius,'  and,  meaning 
sea-born,  may  indicate  that  the  possessor  of  the  name  drew  his 
descent  from  ancestors  who  pushed  their  frail  barks  far  out  into 
the  treacherous  sea,  and  showed  themselves  at  exposed  places 
visitors  as  unex|)ected  as  they  were  unwelcome.  Such  was  the 
name  borne  by  a  British  monk  who,  about  the  beginning  of  the 
fifth  century,  forsook  the  great  monastery  of  Bangor,  or  his  own 
lonely  cell,  to  mingle  with  the  throngs  of  Rome.  Finding  in  that 
refuge  another  waif,  like  himself  drifted  by  the  current  from  the 
farthest  northwest  and  cast  up  upon  the  shore  where  flowed  the 
"  yellow  Tiber,"  a  native  of  Ireland,  a  genuine  Celt,  he  admitted 
him  into  friendship  and  into  an  active  copartnership  in  his  theo- 
logical ventures.  During  the  ten  years  or  more  spent  by  these 
two  monks  within  the  walls  of  Rome,  Celestius  had  ample  time  and 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHE8VS.  167 

opportunity  for  learning  the  philosophical  system  of  Pelagius,  and 
suggesting  such  improvements  as  might  seem  advisable  to  a  mind 
sharpened  by  the  training  and  practice  of  an  advocate. 

If  Pelagius  was  not  a  fellow-countryman  of  Caesar  and  Cicero, 
that  distinction  cannot  be  denied  a  man  who  stands  foremost 
among  the  divines  of  the  Latin  Church,  to  whom  must  be  awarded 
the  credit  of  at  least  partially  redeeming  Latin  theology  from  the 
contempt  to  which  it  might  otherwise  have  been  assigned.  The 
illustrious  antagonist  of  the  Briton  was  born  at  Thagaste,  a  town 
of  !N'umidia,  a.  d.  35-i,  of  a  heathen  father,  but  of  a  mother 
equally  remarkable,  it  would  appear,  as  housewife  and  saint. 
Many  advantages  were  lavished  upon  the  youthful  Augustine, 
who  was  sent  to  the  schools  of  Madaura  and  Carthage.  His 
father,  finally  brought  over  to  the  true  faith  by  the  influence  of 
his  exemplary  wife,  dying  when  the  boy  was  about  seventeen  years 
of  age,  the  assistance  of  a  rich  fellow-townsman  enabled  him  to 
pursue  his  studies.  The  youth  was  not  correct  in  his  habits  nor 
in  his  faith,  committing  the  double  crime  of  unfaithfulness  to  both 
the  purity  and  the  religion  in  which  his  pious  mother  must  have 
trained  him.  At  eighteen,  though  unmarried,  he  was  the  father 
of  a  boy,  who  afterwards  accompanied  him  into  the  Church.  It 
may  be  thought  strange  that  the  reading  of  Cicero's  "  Horteusius  " 
should  have  thrown  the  young  man  of  nineteen  years  into  Mani- 
chseism ;  but  so  it  happened,  that  work  exciting  a  spiritual  appe- 
tite which  in  his  diseased  condition  the  simplicity  of  the  Bible 
failed  to  satisfy.  For  nearly  a  decade  he  remained  a  member  of 
the  abhorred  and  persecuted  sect,  but  gradually  contracted  an  in- 
tense disgust  at  the  obscene  and  hypocritical  practices  of  the 
"elect,"  and  an  inveterate  dislike  of  the  system  which  nurtured 
them.  In  383,  he  sought  a  more  agreeable  field  for  the  exercise 
of  his  talents  as  instructor  in  the  same  metropolis  at  which  we 
left  Pelagius  and  his  coadjutor,  and  thence  removed  to  Milan.  In 
that  favored  and  historic  city  he  had  the  privilege  of  testing  the 
Justness  of  its  great  preacher's  fame.  The  same  mighty  spirit  which 
awed  and  subdued  the  monarch  prevailed  over  the  indifference  and 
the  prejudices  of  the  dissolute  rhetorician,  becoming  thus  the  ap- 
pointed instrument  in  the  divine  hands  for  proving  the  truth  of  those 
memorable  words  of  an  aged  bishop  to  the  tearful  and  supplicating 
parent,  "  It  is  impossible  that  the  child  of  those  tears  should  be 
lost."    Monica  rejoiced  to  number  her  son  among  the  catechumens. 


1G8  TEE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

Slowly  he  struggled  upwards  under  the  load  of  bad  habits  and 
cherished  unbelief,  till  at  last  a  voice  came,  or  seemed  to  come,  to 
him  in  an  hour  of  extreme  mental  anguish,  bidding  him  "  Take 
up  and  read,"  and  sending  him  to  St.  Paul's  Epistles,  which  he 
happened  to  open  at  the  appropriate  passage :  "  Not  in  rioting  and 
drunkenness,  not  in  chambering  and  wantonness,  not  in  strife 
and  env;)'ing;  but  put  ye  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  make  not 
provision  for  the  flesh  to  fulfill  the  lusts  thereof.''  On  the  anni- 
versary of  our  Lord's  sabbatical  rest  in  the  tomb,  in  the  year  387, 
Augustine,  his  son,  and  his  dearest  friend,  Alypius,  knelt  by  the 
font  at  the  feet  of  Milan's  sainted  Archbishop.  Monica  not  long 
surviving  this  unspeakable  triumph,  her  bereaved  son  remained  in 
Eome  for  more  than  a  year  longer,  and  then  returned  to  Africa 
and  his  native  place,  where  he  passed  some  three  years  in  purify- 
ing himself  from  the  old  taint  by  a  life  of  religious  retirement. 
There  prevailing  in  those  strange  days  the  antiquated  idea  that 
the  very  best  talent  and  most  extensive  knowledge  should  be 
consecrated  to  the  work  of  saving  souls,  Augustine  endeavored 
to  shun  the  fate  of  Ambrose  by  immuring  himself  in  seclusion, 
but  in  vain,  for,  happening  in  an  unguarded  moment  to  visit 
Hippo  Ptegius,  the  inhabitants  presented  him  against  his  will  to 
the  bishop,  Valerius,  for  ordination.  Thus  he  became  a  presbyter 
in  the  ancient  seat  of  the  Numidian  kings ;  wliich  his  renown 
would  keep  in  the  memories  of  men  long  after  Masinissa  and 
Jugurtha  should  have  passed  into  oblivion.  In  order  that  Va- 
lerius, a  Greek,  might  be  relieved  from  the  task  of  discoursing  in 
the  Latin  language,  with  which  he  did  not  feel  himself  thoroughly 
familiar,  the  custom  was  introduced,  before  unheard  of  in  Africa, 
that  a  presbyter  should  preach  when  the  bishop  was  present,  and 
Augustine  addressed  the  people  in  his  stead.  At  the  end  of  four 
years  another  novelty  was  introduced,  that  of  having  two  bishops 
in  one  city, — in  direct  opposition  to  the  eighth  canon  of  the  First 
General  Council,  of  the  existence  of  which,  however,  information 
had  probably  not  reached  the  Numidian  Church,— and  Augustine 
found  himself  assistant  bishop  over  one  of  the  most  important 
sees  of  Northern  Africa,  which  his  abilities  soon  brought  into  the 
greatest  prominence.  In  this  station  he  continued  for  thirty-five 
years,  dying  just  too  soon  to  throw  the  weight  of  his  character 
into  the  scale  of  order  at  the  Council  of  Ephesus,  and,  perhaps, 
act  as  an  effectual  check  upon  the  overbearing  and  unscrupulous 


TEE  COUltCIL  OF  EPHESUS.  169 

prelate  of  Alexandria.  The  leadership  of  the  African  Church  being 
conceded  to  him,  Augustine  turned  his  influence  to  most  excel- 
lent account  in  both  tlie  Donatist  and  the  Pelagian  controversies. 
Having  given  to  the  world  in  his  "  Confessions  "  a  valuable  record 
of  his  own  spiritual  history,  in  his  "  City  of  God  "  a  monument 
to  his  fame  more  lasting  than  the  hardest  granite,  and  multitu- 
dinous works,  expository,  polemical,  and  other,  which  it  is  un- 
necessary to  enumerate,  he  lay  down  to  rest  in  430,  to  await  the 
consummation  of  the  blessedness  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  true 
City  of  God ;  leaving  behind  him  a  name  which  was  to  be  almost 
the  luatcli-ioord  of  a  prolonged  and  bitter  theological  war,  and  to 
command  respect  from  all  schools  of  thought,  and  all  varieties  of 
sects.  Yet  does  not  our  estimate  of  the  Roman  race  hold  good 
even  in  his  case  ?  Who  would  think  of  comparing  his  learning 
with  that  of  Gregory  Nazianzen,  or  his  argumentative  power  with 
that  of  Basil  of  Csesarea  ?  As  for  soundness  of  judgment,  com- 
prehensiveness of  view,  and  depth  of  penetration,  must  we  not 
admit  that,  even  though  we  should  forget  the  other  Gregories, 
Theodoret,  Chrysostom,  one  man  at  least  dwarfs  him  into  insig- 
nificance,— one  who  took  no  partial  glance  at  a  single  side  of  a 
subject,  but  examined  all  its  several  aspects,  acknowledging  their 
existence,  even  though  he  could  not  precisely  account  for  that 
existence, — the  incomparable  Athanasius  ? 

Both  Auffustine  and  Pelao-ius  lacked  what  Athanasius  had, 
whether  the  progress  of  intellectual  science  in  his  day  permitted 
him  to  know  the  fact  or  not,  a  irwQ  2:)hiloso]yhy, — that  philosophy 
which  is  implied  in  all  correct  theological  teaching,  and  has  con- 
trolled the  Church's  pulpits  and  councils  from  the  beginning. 
Auo-ustine  and  his  antag-onist  did  not  understand  the  law  of 
polarity^  but  acted  as  men  who,  having  discovered  negative  elec- 
tricity, should  insist  that  all  electricity  must  be  negative.  Arius 
and  Sabellius  had  succeeded  in  penetrating  the  barriers  which 
protect  the  opposite  poles  of  the  great  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and 
wished  to  make  men  believe  that  they  stood  above  the  equator, 
and  could  see  the  entire  surface  of  the  globe  as  it  swept  beneath 
their  feet.  Pelagius  and  Augustine  sailed  away  from  each  other, 
one  towards  free-will,  the  other  towards  absolute  predestination, 
till  they  attained  north  and  south  latitudes,  respectively,  of  at  least 
70°,  and  then  tried  to  persuade  themselves  that,  because  their 
adversary's  ship  had  sunk  so  far  out  of  their  sight,  it  must  have 


170  THE  CRTJRCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

gone  to  the  bottom  with  all  on  board.  One  man  discovers  the 
law  of  inertia,  and  insists  that  the  planet  must  fly  oflf  at  a  tan- 
gent ;  tlie  other  hits  upon  the  law  of  gravitation,  and  takes  the 
opposite  position  that  the  body  must  drop  iu  a  straight  line  to- 
wards the  sun ;  and  both  are  equally  wrong,  as  they  will  see  if 
they  trace  out  the  actual  coui'se,  and  follow  the  huge  and  shining 
mass  as  it  rolls  along  in  a  regular  elliptical  orbit,  neither  flying  olf 
only,  nor  nishing  inward  only,  but  doing  both  at  once.  What  a 
pity  it  is  that  reasoners  are  so  impatient  to  apj)ly  their  logic !  If 
modem  science  should  ever  succeed  in  persuading  them  to  restrain 
their  ardor  till  tliev  have  taken  careful  observations  of  all  related 
phenomena,  it  will  have  achieved  enough  to  entitle  it  to  the  last- 
ing gratitude,  to  the  loud  plaudits,  of  all  who  love  truth  above 
victory.  Man  is  like  the  planet,  as  a  moment's  observation  ought 
to  show  any  intelligent  person :  he  can  neither  fly  madly  through 
space  at  the  impulsion  of  his  self-will,  nor  does  he  submit  to  be 
drawn  in  towards  the  eternal  and  infinite  centre  of  all  life  by  the 
overwhelming  force  of  the  everlasting  design;  but  he  describes  a 
path  that  is  the  resultant  of  these  two  forces.  It  will  perhaps  be 
objected  that  both  parties  would  have  admitted  this.  Perhaps 
they  would ;  but  the  charge  is  that,  having  a  strong  preference 
for  one  force,  they  magnified  that  force  till  it  virtually  extin- 
guished the  other,  instead  of  taking  both  into  their  calculations, 
and  striving  to  compute  accurately  the  amount  of  each.  If  they 
did  not  convert  the  elliptical  orbit  into  a  tangent  or  a  radius,  they 
certainly  did  change  it  into  a  parabola  or  a  hyperbola,  and  whirled 
poor  human  nature  among  astonished  worlds  like  a  frantic  comet 
instead  of  a  quiet,  orderly,  sober  planet. 

That  man  is  free  is  a  conviction  imbedded  in  the  lowest  sub- 
stratum of  our  mental  nature,  and  so  utterly  ineradicable  that  not 
all  the  vagaries  of  Indian,  Arabian,  or  Grecian  philosophy,  not  all 
the  well-aimed  blows  of  Augustine,  Gottschalk,  or  John  Calvin, 
nor  all  the  speculations  of  those  who  make  of  a  man  nothing  but 
a  nature  such  as  it  has  been  constituted  by  inheritance  and  slightly 
modified  by  the  circumstances  of  his  particular  life,  have  been  able 
to  displace  it.  The  very  individual  who  most  vociferously  pro- 
fesses himself  a  slave,  shows  conclusively  in  his  actions  and  con- 
duct that  he  believes  himself  free.  Whatever  may  be  the  stress 
of  circumstances,  however  powerful  the  temptation,  to  whatever 
degree  the  power  of  resistance  may  have  been  weakened  by  habitual 


TEE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHESU8.  171 

indulgence,  man  does  not  consciously  sin  without  being  reproved 
by  his  own  conscience.  If  physical  coercion  is  used,  or  the  indi- 
vidual is  actually  insane,  or  is  possessed  by  devils,  he  is  not  mor- 
ally guilty  of  the  wicked  deed,  nor  does  he  experience  the  same 
reproaches  from  within ;  or  if  the  moral  sense  has  been  deadened 
by  a  long  course  in  vice,  he  may  not  be  sensible  of  the  nature  of 
his  acts ;  but  in  all  those  cases  in  which  the  man  really  and  know- 
ingly olFends  against  the  law  of  right,  he  is  thoroughly  aware  that 
the  responsibility  in  the  last  instance  rests  upon  him  alone.  Nor 
is  the  feeling  that  of  mere  shame,  nor  similar  to  it.  The  mental 
state  of  the  one  who  has  succumbed  to  temptation  is  very  different 
from  that  of  him  who  has  been  overcome  by  superior  physical 
force :  in  the  latter  case  the  vanquished  may  labor  under  shame- 
facedness,  but  he  does  not  bitterly  reproach  himself,  nor  feel  that 
he  is  a  vile  thing  which  men  ought  to  shun  and  Heaven  disown. 
That  a  conviction  of  the  nature  described  exists  is  undeniable :  he 
who  should  reject  it  would  degrade  us  into  mere  puppets  dancing 
on  wires,  and  incapacitate  himself  for  drawing  any  line  between 
the  sane  and  the  insane.  A  conviction  firmly  rooted  in  one  per- 
son or  in  ten  million  may  be  erroneous,  it  is  true ;  but  one  which 
is  indelible  in  all  persons  of  all  ages  must  be  connect.  Unless  we 
so  conclude,  we  cut  away  the  ground  from  under  our  own  feet, 
and  leave  ourselves  without  any  knowledge  whatsoever ;  since  it 
is  no  more  certain  that  cause  leads  to  effect  or  effect  dances  at- 
tendance upon  cause,  it  is  no  more  clear  that  we  actually  exist, 
than  it  is  that  we  control  our  own  actions.  It  may  be  replied  that 
a  patient  recovering  from  typhoid  fever,  and  stimulated  by  the 
joyful  sense  of  renewed  Hfe  throbbing  through  him  with  invigor- 
ating energy,  may  think  that  he  can  vv^alk,  whereas  the  effort  to 
do  so  would  result  in  distressing  failure.  We  are  not  arguing 
about  isolated  cases  in  which  men  listen  to  the  whispers  of  hope, 
but  about  a  deep,  and  settled,  and  universal  belief  which  the  strongest 
wind  of  the  desert  cannot  rend,  nor  the  earthquake  overthrow,  nor 
the  fire  consume,  and  to  which  the  still,  small  voice  of  revelation 
addresses  itself.  And  what  need  we  care  for  argument  in  such  a 
case  ?  The  argument  overthrows  itself,  and  buries  itself  out  of  sight. 
It  overthrows  itself  because  it  builds  upon  the  judgment  of  Causal- 
ity, which  can  rest  upon  no  other  than  this  same  basis.  We  believe 
in  it,  and  therefore  it  must  be  true.  It  digs  a  pit  into  which  its 
expiring  carcass  falls  headlong,  covering  itself  many  feet  deep 


172  THE  CHURCH  AXD   THE  FAITH 

with,  the  debris  it  brings  along  with  it,  because  it  persuades  those 
who  will  listen  to  attemj^t  what  they  cannot  do,  because  it  assails 
the  very  ones  to  whom  it  should  look  for  support,  its  own  kith 
and  kin. 

Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  man  is  not  free,  and  he  knows  it  too. 
His  actions  are  restrained  within  very  narrow  boundaries.  If  he 
is  pleased  to  throw  a  stone,  he  can  do  so,  but  the  projecting  force 
cannot  bv  his  volition  be  increased  beyond  the  limits  of  his  mus- 
cular  power,  nor  can  he  cause  the  projectile  to  describe  any  other 
than  a  parabolic  curve.  His  capacities  are  such  as  the  Creator 
allowed  him  (whether  directly  or  indirectly,  makes  no  difference), 
his  character,  happiness,  and  success  are  dependent  upon  circum- 
stances over  wliich  he  has  no  control,  and  the  inherited  weakness 
of  his  nature  renders  it  practically  impossible  for  him  to  resist  sin 
without  supernatural  aid.  There  is  as  much  truth  on  this  side  as 
on  the  other.  Let  not  man  forget  that  he  is  mortal !  We  venture 
to  say  that  Plato  knew  the  weakness  of  humanity,  that  Cato  knew 
it  as  well  as  Cicero ;  that  Seneca,  Epictetus,  and  Marcus  Antoni- 
nus lamented  it  with  bitter  tears;  or  at  least  that  the  first  of  this 
trio  icejit  what  the  others  deplored, — as  far  as  such  demonstrations 
are  supposable  in  philosophers  of  the  Stoic  school.  Revelation, 
probing  the  wound  in  order  to  heal  it,  removes  all  the  bandages 
and  wrappings,  and  disj^lays  to  us  all  the  ugliness  of  a  sore  full  of 
corruption.  The  facts  here,  too,  are  clear  enough  and  certain 
enoufrh  :  man  is  what  God  made  him,  and  too  feeble  and  blind  to 
walk  without  a  liel])ing  hand;  and  the  requisite  assistance  is, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  Scripture,  freely  offered  to  every 
man  who  will  ask  for  it;  beijig  even,  in  a  certain  measure,  forced 
upon  the  unwilling,  who  cannot  come  to  Christ  unless  God  the 
Father  draw  them  through  the  Spirit's  agency. 

Who  can  reconcile  these  contradictory  facts?  !N'o  one  who  has 
not  a  stronger  intellect  than  that  of  Emmanuel  Kant ;  for  the  diffi- 
culty before  us  is  that  contained  in  his  Third  Antinomy.  Ko  wise 
person  will  even  continue  the  effort  he  has  begun  after  he  has  dis- 
covered that  the  real  difficulty  lies  in  the  impossibility  of  compre- 
hending moral  freedom,  for  he  will  see  that  he  can  no  more  hope 
to  understand  his  own  nature  than  a  dog  could  reasonably  expect 
to  get  above  the  canine  nature,  and  look  down  into  all  its  valleys 
and  over  all  its  ridges.  We  can  most  assuredly  form  an  idea  of 
freedom  as  it  exists,  but  we  cannot  tell  how  it  exists.     Here  lies 


TEE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHESUS.  173 

the  ultimate  difficulty :  God  being  good  and  all-knowing,  and  man 
being  His  creature,  how  was  it  possible  for  God  so  to  fashion  His 
creature  tliat  he  could  reject  the  good  and  choose  the  evil,  con- 
sidering that  He  was  the  all-foreseeing  Architect  of  the  mind  as 
surely  as  of  the  body,  and  must  have  known  what  kind  of  a  dispo- 
sition and  what  degree  of  determination  would  belong  to  it?  If 
a  machinist  constructs  an  engine  which  runs  badly,  we  properly 
find  fault  with  him  for  incompetence  or  negligence,  unless  the 
defect  was  one  which  no  skill  nor  diligence  of  mortal  man  could 
have  discovered.  How,  then,  can  the  most  devout  mind  exonerate 
the  Deity  from  blame  for  creating  that  which  His  infallible  knowl- 
edge must  have  informed  Him  would  work  not  only  its  own  de- 
struction, but  the  ruin  of  many  who  should  come  within  the  circle 
of  its  pernicious  influence  ?  Is  not  this  the  same  as  asking  why 
God  did  not  fashion  a  machine  instead  of  a  morally  free  man  ?  No, 
because  the  man  might  be  free  to  sin  and  yet  never  avail  himself 
of  that  freedom,  or  if  he  did  transgress,  might  confine  his  wander- 
ings within  the  limits  of  certain  reclamation.  Who  does  not  see 
that  this  is  a  mere  quibble  ?  Who  can  repress  a  smile  at  the 
thought  of  a  freedom  possessed  by  countless  millions,  of  Avhich  not 
one  ever  avails  himself?  Besides,  this  theory  leaves  the  difficulty 
about  as  great  as  it  found  it,  for  it  is  equally  impossible  to  under- 
stand how  God  could  have  made  a  person  who  M-as  capable  of 
sinning  and  must  therefore,  seemingly,  have  been  imperfect,  as  one 
who  in  positive  fact  would  commit  wrong.  What  is  freedom  ? 
Let  the  answer  be  frank  and  foil :  We  do  not  know,  we  never  can 
know,  and  we  convict  ourselves  of  gross  folly  in  trying  to  know. 
Is  it,  then,  impossible  that  God,  good  and  omniscient,  should  have 
formed  a  sinful  creature?  No  one  is  in  any  condition  to  pro- 
nounce it  impossible  who  is  unable  to  prove  that  a  creature  cannot 
be  made  independent.  Why  are  all  the  acts  of  that  which  is  made 
necessarily  traceable  to  the  one  who  makes  it  ?  Why  cannot 
something  be  formed  which  shall  be  capable  of  being  left  to  its 
own  guidance  ?  That  is  just  what  man  is,  if  he  is  any  better  than 
cow  and  horse,  a  creature  whom  God  has  moulded  into  His  own 
likeness,  placed  in  a  society  of  his  fellows,  and  permitted  to  con- 
trol his  own  motions  and  pursue  his  own  wishes  and  plans.  The 
mystery  of  his  moral  freedom  must  be  left  unsolved,  its  solution 
unattempted  save  by  the  folly  which  under  other  education  and 
circumstances  would  set  up  another  Babel  for  the  contempt  of 


174  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

succeeding  ages.  One  of  the  greatest  advantages  attending  the 
possession  of  a  powerful  intellect  is  that  it  teaches  where  to  halt, 
and  so  prevents  the  waste  of  time,  exhaustion  of  strength,  and 
bitterness  of  disappointment  which  result  from  misplaced  effort  to 
accomplish  tlie  impracticable.  Perhaps,  however,  this  wisdom 
comes  rather  from  the  good  fortune  of  having  a  true  philosophy 
than  from  mere  strength  of  mind.  Let  us,  then,  be  thankful  that 
the  Church  has  always  instructed  her  children  to  accept  the  facts 
on  both  sides,  not  pushing  them  towards  the  extremities,  but 
drawing  them  towards  the  centre,  acknowledging  the  utter  impossi- 
bility of  thoroughly  uniting  them,  and  studying  rather  to  observe 
these  facts  and  deduce  accurately  the  principles  derivable  from 
them,  than  to  theorize  brilliantly, 

Manichaean  boldness  cut  the  Gordian  knot  by  deciding  that 
evil  emanates  from  a  hostile  divinity,  an  Almighty  Satan,  who 
loves  sin  for  its  own  sake  and  because  it  is  abhorrent  to  Ilim 
whom  he  hates,  the  Good  God.  By  making  this  world  the  battle- 
ground of  two  nearly  equal  powers,  that  extraordinary  religion 
reduced  the  controversy  before  us  to  very  insignificant  dimensions. 
In  recoiling  from  the  abominable  tenets  of  that  sect  into  which 
he  had  been  lured,  Augustine  would  naturally  labor  to  show  the 
needlessness  of  the  hypothesis  of  an  adverse  deity,  and  to  explain 
the  existence  of  evil  in  a  world  created  by  one  sole  and  righteous 
God.  In  his  attempt  he  would  be  exposed  to  the  hazard  of  mag- 
nifying unduly  the  part  which  God  is  pleased  to  assume  in  govern- 
ing the  affairs  of  man,  and  seems  to  have  actually  gone  the  length 
of  treating  fliith,  the  mental  act  by  which  man  grasps  the  proffered 
salvation,  as  the  result  of  God's  grace  working  irresistibly  upon 
the  soul.  Such  teaching  is  very  susceptible  of  gross  perversion  in 
the  hands  of  the  indolent,  the  worldly,  and  the  profligate,  who 
are  glad  enough  to  throw  off  the  blame  of  their  misdeeds  and 
negligences  upon  Divine  Providence.  To  how  great  an  extent 
such  pleas  were  used  at  Rome  we  cannot  at  this  distance  of  time 
be  certain,  but  may  easily  credit  the  assertion  that  Pelagius's 
indignation  was  kindled  by  what  he  heard  of  this  kind  against 
the  wretches  whose  ingratitude  towards  their  Father  in  Heaven 
permitted  them  to  seek  shelter  behind  such  a  miserable  excuse, 
and  also  against  the  doctrine  which  countenanced  such  conduct. 
He  vehemently  insisted  that  the  sinner  commits  his  own  sin,  and 
has  himself  to  blame  for  both  it  and  its  dire  consequences. 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHESUS.  175 

However,  the  allied  monks  did  not  commence  the  real  work  of 
spreading  their  belief  till  after  Alaric  had  marched  his  Gothic 
hordes  into  the  streets  of  Rome  and  given  the  ancient  city  over  to 
carnage,  rapine,  and  plunder.  In  410  they  fled  to  Africa,  where 
Celestius  involved  himself  in  trouble  by  seeking  ordination  at 
Carthage,  being  opposed  by  Paulinus,  who,  from  having  been  a 
deacon  at  Milan,  was  probably  to  some  extent  acquainted  with 
his  peculiar  ideas.  He  was  accused  of  holding  erroneous  views 
concerning  original  sin,  regeneration,  and  perfectibility,  was  tried 
before  a  s}Tiod  which  assembled  at  Carthage  in  412,  condemned, 
and  excommunicated.  An  appeal  which  he  made  to  the  bishop 
of  Rome  being  utterly  disregarded,  he  shook  from  his  feet  the 
dust  of  Africa,  and  sought  a  more  salubrious  atmosphere  among 
the  mobile  Orientals,  making  his  home  at  Ephesus.  Pelagius  had 
preceded  him  in  his  eastward  flight,  and  taken  up  his  residence  in 
Palestine,  there  encountering  the  famous  Jerome,  who  from  a 
friend  soon  became  his  bitter  antagonist.  But  Pelagius  did  not 
thus  easily  elude  ill-report,  for  he  was  forthwith  opposed  by  a 
young  presbyter  from  the  country  of  Hosius,  whom  Augustine 
had  recommended  to  Jerome  of  Stridon,  that  learned,  voluminous, 
and  vindictive  writer,  who  so  bitterly  denounced  Origenism,  was 
the  means  of  introducing  Greek  learning  into  the  West,  encour- 
aged monkery,  and  strove  to  put  down  the  new  heresy  that  was 
being  imported  into  a  field  already  too  thickly  sown  with  them. 
Unfortunately,  the  delegate  of  Augustine  and  Jerome,  who  per- 
haps did  not  care  to  engage  personally  in  the  suit,  this  Orosius, 
did  not  understand  Greek.  John  of  Jerusalem  and  his  synod 
therefore  readily  consented  that  the  trial  should  be  transferred  to 
a  court  of  more  competent  jurisdiction,  that  of  Rome,  prohibiting 
the  heresiarch  in  the  meantime  from  proclaiming  his  doctrines. 
Other  accusers  soon  afterward  appearing  in  the  persons  of  two 
Gauhsh  bishops  of  doubtful  reputation,  Pelagius  was  summoned 
in  the  same  year  (415)  before  another  synod,  which  was  held  by 
Eulogius,  metropolitan  of  Csesarea,  at  the  town  which  had  for- 
merly been  called  by  the  familiar  name  of  Lydda.  On  this 
occasion,  owing  to  the  absence  of  the  complainants,  Pelagius 
contrived  to  purge  himself  of  the  fault  laid  to  his  charge, 
and  obtained  an  acquittal,  which,  however,  was  not  of  much 
intrinsic  value,  as  being  no  more  than  an  ex  parte  decision  of  an 
uninformed  tribunal.     For  its  leniency  this  council  of  Diospolis 


176  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

(Ljdda)  received  from  Jerome  the  abusive  epithet  of  ''''Miserable 
nynody 

Zosimus,  bishop  of  Home,  now  appears  upon  the  scene,  hold- 
ing a  synod  at  which  the  art  of  Celestius  wins  over  the  partial 
Greek  to  his  side  of  the  dispute,  and  then  addressing  a  letter  full 
of  reproof  and  unwarrantable  assumption  to  the  African  Church, 
commanding  that  the  accusere  should  come  to  Rome  within  two 
months,  or  else  that  the  charges  should  be  dropped.  Aurelius  of 
Carthage,  in  nowise  intimidated,  held  two  numerously  attended 
councils,  and  with  the  approbation  of  more  than  two  hundred 
bishops,  calmly  replied  in  substance  that  the  African  Church  was 
independent  and  entirely  able  to  take  care  of  her  own  allaii-s,  with- 
out the  assistance  of  her  Homish  sister,  and  that  the  two  heretics, 
Pelagius  and  Celestius,  must  stand  condenmed  until  such  time  as 
they  should  retract  their  errors.  Moreover,  they  thought  lit  to 
retort  upon  Zosimus  tliat  he,  and  not  they,  had  been  hasty  and 
credulous  in  listening  to  the  imsupported  assertions  of  biased  per- 
sons. Instead  of  Hying  into  a  stage  passion  and  metaphorically 
tearing  his  hair  in  the  fury  and  imbecility  of  his  rage,  Zosimus, 
influenced  doubtless  by  the  fact  that  the  civil  sword  had  been 
unsheathed  against  the  two  promulgators  of  false  doctrine  in  an 
imperial  rescript  of  Theodosius,  turned  completely  around,  con- 
demned those  men  himself  in  very  strong  language,  and  not  only 
adopted  the  decisions  of  the  Africiin  synods,  but  required  them  to 
be  signed  by  all  who  occupied  the  episcopal  seat.  As  nineteen 
Italian  bishops  could  not  endure  this  test  of  orthodoxy,  and  were 
consequently  deposed,  it  surprises  us  that  they  did  not  organize 
into  a  sect,  especially  as  among  their  number  was  Julian  of 
Eclanum,  a  man  of  ability  and  prominence  sufficient  to  have 
marked  him  out  as  a  leader.  Fortunately,  such  was  not  the  case, 
and  after  carrying  on  the  controversy  with  the  orthodox,  whom 
they  stigmatized  as  Traducianists  and  Manichceans,  till  the 
Council  of  Ephesus  branded  their  opinions  as  heretical  along  with 
those  of  !N^estorius,  Pelagius  and  his  party  sink  out  of  sight. 

The  nearest  approach  to  the  formation  of  a  distinct  sect  was 
made  by  a  monk  who,  emigrating  from  the  East  to  France,  estab- 
lished a  monastery  at  Marseilles  some  time  about  410  a.  d.  He 
held  views  similar  to  those  of  Pelagius,  but  less  extreme,  and 
succeeded  in  making  them  popular  in  Gaul,  notwithstanding  the 
well-directed  opposition  offered  by  Hilary  of  Aries  and  Prosper 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHESUS.  177 

of  Aquitain,  wlio  also  enlisted  the  efforts  of  Augustine  on  their 
side.  The  disciples  of  John  Cassianus  became  very  numerous  in 
the  course  of  a  century,  and  were  known  as  Massilians,  from  the 
citj  which  was  their  headquarters,  though  they  have  since  been 
appropriately  styled  Semipelagians.  One  of  the  most  noted  up- 
holders of  his  opinions  was  Faustus,  who  was  transferred  from 
the  abbacy  of  Lerins  to  the  bishopric  of  Riez.  So  important 
was  a  work,  written  by  him  at  the  request  of  a  synod  of  Aries,  in 
confutation  of  certain  high  predestinarian  views  held  by  the 
Gallic  Church,  that  another  synod,  of  Lyons,  requested  him  to 
continue  it.  His  books  were  condemned  not  long  after  his  decease 
by  Pope  Gelasius.  Whether  the  vast  majority  of  those  who  ad- 
hered to  his  teachings  were  Pelagians,  in  any  sense,  may  well  be 
doubted :  striving  to  avoid  the  Scvlla  and  Charvbdis  of  Pelagian- 
ism  and  Predestinarianism,  they  probably  overlooked  the  minor 
errors  of  John  Cassianus,  and  mistook  him  for  a  genuine  Catholic, 
as,  indeed,  he  almost  seems  to  have  been.  However,  men  of  un- 
usual penetration,  like  Caesarius  of  Aries,  discovered  the  lurking 
danger,  and  disclosed  it  to  the  imperiled  flock.  In  529,  this 
metro2:)olitan  turned  the  tide  permanently  by  effecting  a  condem- 
nation of  whatever  was  erroneous  in  the  Semipelagian  doctrines 
by  a  council  held  at  Orange.  Similar  measures  being  taken  by  a 
council  which  sat  at  Valencia  about  the  same  date,  and  the  joint 
decision  being  ratilied  by  Pope  Boniface  II.  almost  immediately, 
the  West  had  thoroughly  committed  itself  to  the  disapproval  of 
this  mild  type  of  Pelagiauism,  which,  however  it  may  have  flour- 
ished in  secret,  thenceforth  shunned  the  light  of  day. 

To  the  self-contained  and  haughty-spirited  Pelagianism  no 
less  commended  itself,  by  the  value  and  dignity  it  ascribed  to 
man's  own  efforts,  than  the  doctrine  of  Augustine,  by  throwing 
back  the  main  responsibility  for  human  actions  upon  the  Creator, 
rendered  itself  acceptable  to  the  dissolute  and  the  idle.  In  re- 
coiling from  abject  servitude,  Pelagius  leaped  into  a  godless  in- 
dependence. In  striving  to  shield  men  from  opinions  which 
remove  all  incentive  to  exertion,  and  leave  them  an  easy  prey  to 
the  demons  of  luxuriousness  and  sensual  indulgence,  he  delivered 
them  over,  bound  hand  and  foot,  to  the  fiend  of  spiritual  pride. 
If  Augustine  had  obliterated  liberty,  was  it  necessary  for  him  to 
wipe  out  grace  from  his  scheme  of  doctrine  ?  When  that  learned 
father  forgot  himself  so  far  as  to  teach  that  in  saving  faith  itself 


178  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

exists  nothing  of  man's  own  volition,  would  it  not  liave  been 
opposition  of  a  sufficiently  emphatic  character  to  have  answered 
that  man  does  have  some  share  in  the  formation  within  him  of 
that  virtue,  without  claiming  that  he  has  all  the  merit  of  its  exist- 
ence, God  havino;  nothin2:  whatsoever  to  do  with  the  matter  ?    But 
the  Briton  did  not  stop  short  of  the  farthest  extreme.     He  taught 
that  in  liis  natural  state  man  possesses  the  power  of  choosing  the 
good,  and  of  persistently  and  successfully  following  it.     Inasmuch 
as  God  made  him,  he  owes  to  God  originally  the  capacity  of 
choice,  and  the  power  of  execution :  there,  however,  his  indebted- 
ness ceases,  for,  all  persons  being  endowed  with  sufficient  capabili- 
ties, they  are  then  left  very  much  to  themselves,  to  survive  or  per- 
ish as  they  themselves  choose.     If  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  has 
any  influence  upon  the  spiritual  organism  of  the  creature,  His 
function  is  only  to  make  the  attainment  of  lioliness  easier:  His 
office  is  not  a  necessary  one  at  all,  for  the  child  of  Adam  is  com- 
petent to  break  off  from  a  long  course  of  sinful  indulgence,  curb 
all  his  unruly  passions,  Nvalk  unscathed  through  the  seven-times- 
heated  furnace  of  temptations  to  which  he  has  habitually  yielded, 
and  which  are  now  sharpened  by  short  abstinence,  preserve  un- 
sj)otted  henceforth  his  integrity  and  purity,  and  accomplish  all 
this  by  the  unaided  might  of  his  own  determined  purpose.     In- 
deed, so  complete  is  his  power  in  these  respects,  that  he  can  afford 
to  dispense  with  all  the  outward  means  of  spiritual  improvement. 
lie  can  walk  uprightly  from  the  inhaling  of  the  first  breath  into 
his  unaccustomed  lungs,  not  so  much  as  once  striking  his  foot 
against  hidden  root  or  unsuspected  stone.     He  has  even  lived  in 
perfect   righteousness   without  knowledge   of  revealed   religion, 
guiding  himself  by  the  glimmer  of  reason's  dim  torch.     It  is  to 
be  seen  that,  according  to  this  system,  man  saves  himself  by  his 
own  strong  arm :  he  converts  himself  whenever  it  suits  his  con- 
venience to  do  so,  believes  of  his  own  motion  entirely,  and  pro- 
ceeds to  perform  good  works  by  his  own  strength.     The  part 
allotted  to  God  seems  to  have  been  little  more  than  that  of  wiping 
out  all  his  sins  at  his  baptism,  which  sacrament  was  held  to  leave 
him  without  sin. 

Augustine  taught  the  contrary  to  all  this,  which  must  have 
seemed  to  him,  as  it  does  to  ns,  grossly  profane.  According  to 
him,  man  cannot  repent,  nor  even  wish  to  repent,  until  God  puts 
the  desire  into  his  heart,  which  desire,  once  implanted,  He  care- 


THE  COUNCIL   OF  EPHESUS.  179 

fully  guards  and  cultivates  through  all  stages  of  its  growth,  until 
it  safely  buds,  blossoms,  and  bears  fruit  unto  eternal  life.  Why, 
then,  are  not  all  men  good?  Because  God  does  not  plant,  and 
water,  and  give  the  increase.  But  why  does  He  not,  since  He  is 
merciful,  all-powerful,  and  incapable  of  fatigue  ?  Because  it  has 
pleased  Him  to  choose  a  particular  few  upon  whom  to  bestow  the 
priceless  blessing  of  election  to  glory.  Selecting  a  certain  num- 
ber, without  regard  to  foreseen  ability,  or  goodness,  or  anything 
save  His  arhitrary  (may  we  be  forgiven  the  term)  pleasure,  by  a 
decree  which  antedates  the  foundation  of  the  world,  lie  accom- 
plishes their  rescue  by  instrumentalities  which  neither  themselves, 
nor  any  adverse  chance,  nor  the  machinations  of  the  Evil  One  can 
thwart.  But  why  does  not  the  All-merciful  will  the  salvation  of 
all  His  creatures  ?  If  He  can  deliver  whomsoever  He  chooses  from 
everlasting  burnings,  from  the  gnawings  of  the  worm  that  does 
not  die,  from  the  foulness,  and  wretchedness,  and  degradation  of  a 
life  of  sin,  is  He  not  bound  (we  cannot  avoid  the  language)  to  do 
so  by  every  consideration  of  equity  and  compassion  ?  The  human 
heart  can  be  trusted  to  give  one  only  and  unvarying  response  to 
such  interrogation,  unless  it  is  steeled  by  the  stern  demands  of  a 
false  consistency.  What  answer  Augustine  gave,  drawn  from  the 
absolute  right  of  a  Creator  over  His  creatures  to  do  with  them 
what  He  wishes,  need  not  be  dwelt  upon  here,  for  we  may  assure 
ourselves  that  it  was  never  satisfactory  even  to  him,  but  was  em- 
ployed as  a  mere  make-shift  in  default  of  a  better.  His  large  heart 
shrank  aghast  from  the  homble  idea  that  the  God  of  Love  could 
have  predestinated  any  to  unutterable  and  inevitable  woe,  but  did 
he  not  perceive  that  it  is  just  as  cruel  to  leave  them  to  their  destruc- 
tion by  simply  refraining  from  interference,  when  a  mere  effort 
(so  to  speak)  of  the  Eternal  Mind  would  snatch  them  from  ruin  % 
If  I  see  my  neighbor  floundering  in  the  sea  and  neglect  to  toss 
him  the  end  of  a  rope  which  lies  coiled  at  my  feet,  am  I  much  less 
his  murderer  than  if  my  own  hand  had  pushed  him  overboard '. 
How  can  we  justify  God  in  this  matter  otherwise  than  by  assum- 
ing the  position  that  He  cannot  extend  His  hand  to  rescue  the 
perishing?  Is  it  asked.  How  can  anything  be  impossible  with 
God  ?  We  reply  that  inconsistencies  are  impossible,  and  that  it  is 
an  utter  inconsistency  to  talk  of  saving  ?ifree  moral  heing  in  spite 
of  himself.  God  certainly  can  sweep  all  men,  good  and  bad,  into 
heaven,  but  he  cannot  forcibly  pluck  them  out  of  their  own  vile- 


180  TEE  CEURCE  AND  TEE  FAITE. 

ness  witliout  destroying   their  identity  and   making  tbeni  over 
again. 

Against  both  of  these  schemes  the  protests  of  Reason  are  about 
equally  strong.  Its  own  instincts  rise  indignant  against  a  theory 
wliich  robs  it  of  all  power  and  independence,  degrading  it  to  an 
instrument  which  turns  this  way  or  that  as  the  strings  are  pulled ; 
while  it  feels  at  once  the  hollowness  of  a  notion  that  makes  man 
a  little  deity  in  himself,  not  self-created,  it  is  true,  but  in  the  main 
self-sustained,  self-controlled,  scaling  the  skies  with  the  ladder  of 
his  virtuous  acts,  and  practically  disregardful  of  a  Creator  who  has 
retired  from  Ilis  self-moved  universe,  which  lie  views  in  the 
serenity  of  placid  contemplation,  seldom  rousing  Himself  to  the 
effort  of  interposition.  It  refuses  to  be  a  slave,  and  knows  that  it 
ought  not  to  desire  the  licentious  freedom  of  a  savage.  AVhat 
sanction  it  may  seem  to  yield  to  cither  theory  is  wholly  illusor}', 
extorted  from  it  by  the  pressure  of  violence,  actual  or  threatened. 
Kow,  when  two  persons  jointly  labor  to  accomplish  a  given  object, 
one  need  not  be  the  slave  of  the  other,  even  though  such  may  be 
the  ignorance  and  unskillfulness  of  the  one  that  he  cannot  safely 
undertake  the  smallest  particular  of  the  work  without  specific  in- 
structions from  the  other.  A  willing  man,  who  is  ordinarily  intel- 
ligent, could  make  himself  very  useful  as  an  assistant  to  a  mason 
or  a  carpenter,  though  wholly  ignorant  of  the  trade:  in  such  a 
case  the  man  is  not  a  tool,  nor  is  he  al)le  to  labor  independently. 
Does  the  incalculable  superiority  of  Almighty  God  inteipose  an 
insuperable  obstacle  to  cooperation  between  Ilim,  in  His  infinite 
power  and  awful  majesty,  and  man  in  his  weakness  and  humbleness  ? 
If  so,  then  man  can  no  more  invent  a  reaping-machine,  or  put  that 
machine  in  operation,  than  he  can  perform  a  virtuous  act;  for  either 
God  helps  man  in  what  he  does,  or  not;  if  God  does  sustain  the 
natural  life  of  the  inventor,  and  the  functional  action  of  the  brain, 
while  he  is  taxing  his  resources  to  perfect  his  invention,  then  God 
assists  him  in  the  task, — unless,  indeed,  the  man  is  an  automaton, 
wound  up  by  supernatural  power  to  exert  this  particular  effort  of 
imaginary  ingenuity.  When  we  have  allowed  that  God  and  man 
unite  in  doing  w'hatever  man  does,  we  have  certainly  admitted  the 
jyossihility  of  cooperation  between  the  finite  and  the  infinite,  and 
removed  the  above-stated  objection,  unless  there  can  be  adduced 
some  special  reasons  why  a  cooperation  which  extends  through  the 
whole  kingdom  of  nature  should  be  excluded  from  the  kingdom 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHESUS.  181 

of  grace.     This  liypotliesis,  so  thorouglilj  satisfactory  to  reason, 
also  readily  explains  all  the  texts  of  Scripture  which  bear  upon 
the  subject,  the  Bible  always  representing  God's  grace  and  man's 
free  eifort  as  necessary  factors  in  the  great  result  of  salvation ;  not 
that  no  passages  exist  which  ignore  the  one  in  order  to  give  em- 
phasis to  the  other  factor,  but  that  the  texts  of  this  sort  on  one  side 
are  balanced  by  equally  emphatic  ones  on  the  other,  and  that  the 
general  scope  of  the  Inspired  Yolume,  and  of  each  separate  book 
therein  contained,  is  to  show  that  God  saves  His  fallen  creature, 
and  yet  that  the  creature  must  save  himself     Is  this  a  paradox? 
It  is  one  of  the  commonest  paradoxes  of  common  life.    The  patient 
lies  at  the  point  of  death,  prostrated  by  the  subtile  and  deadly  in- 
fluence of  malaria,  and  delirious  from  the  poison  which  typhoid 
fever  sends  through  the  system.     Careful  nursing   and   skillful 
medical  treatment  succeed  in  breaking  the  force  of  the  disease  and 
setting  the  sufferer  upon  the  high-road  to  recovery.    "With  the  im- 
patience of  an  untrained  nature,  the  sick  man  yields  to  the  crav- 
ings of  an  inordinate  appetite,  or  rashly  exposes  himself  to  a  cur- 
rent of  air,  and  reaps  the  harvest  he  ought  to  have  expected  from 
his  imprudence.     Those  whose  fond  eyes  so  sadly  watch  the  fair 
promise  of  renewed  health  wither  and  perish,  hardly  need  to  be 
told  that  physician  and  patient  must  woi'k  together,  in  order  that 
the  hope  of  a  complete  and  permanent  recovery  should  be  realized. 
The  physician  is  God.    God  begins  the  work  of  healing  the  moment 
the  diseased  son  of  Adam  is  born  into  the  world,  and  continues  it 
to  the  end.     As  soon  as  the  moral  nature  awakes  to  a  sense  of  its 
own  existence,  the  Great  Physician  begins  to  administer  antidotes 
to  the  venom  infused  by  the  Old  Serpent  into  our  great  progenitor, 
and  from  him  transmitted  by  inheritance.     lie,  unsuspectedly  act- 
ing upon  the  hearts  of  pagan  and  unconverted  Christian,  draws 
them  towards  Himself;   should  they  desire  to  repent,  He  causes 
them  to  realize  vividly  their  own  sinfulness ;  should  they  look  up 
to  the  Crucified  One  with  a  single  spark  of  gratitude  and  trust,  He 
fans  it  into  the  flame  of  genuine  Faith ;  and  then,  as  they  walk 
along  the  pathway  of  life,  born  anew  into  the  Church  and  fed 
with  the  bread  of  Heaven,  He  assists  every  effort  of  theirs,  warns 
against  danger,  incites  to  increased  effort,  arouses  from  lethargy, 
enlightens,  guides,  comforts,  and  protects  them.     Thus  does  God 
cooperate  at  every  stage  of  growth  in  virtue  and  holiness ;  but  it 
is  only  a  cooperation,  not  at  all  a  taking  of  the  task  out  of  the 


182  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

man's  own  hands.  If  God  originally  moves  towards  virtue  and 
piety,  the  sinner  must  voluntarily  rise  up  and  walk  in  that  direc- 
tion, and  may  not  sit  still  waiting  for  the  Divine  energy  to  set 
him  upon  his  feet,  lest  he  should  wait  forever.  "Wliatever  may  be 
the  efficacy  of  the  softening  reagent  applied  to  his  stony  heart  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  Repentance  and  Faith  are  utterly  impossible 
except  as  positive  acts  of  the  struggling,  but  resolute,  will  of  a 
free  man.  Should  the  grace  of  God,  when  once  fully  admitted 
into  the  human  soul,  so  thoroughly  take  possession  of  it  as  abso- 
lutely to  control  its  motions,  the  life  of  the  Christian  M'ould  not  be 
one  of  probation  at  all,  but  a  mere  process  of  quiet  maturing. 
From  the  first  sob  to  the  last  groan  man  is  a  fellow-worker  with 
God  in  achieving  the  victory  over  sin,  Satan,  and  death ;  capable 
of  doing  no  good  act  without  the  assistance  of  Divine  grace ;  but 
doing  the  acts  himself,  notwithstanding,  not  as  a  steam-engine 
rushes  along,  impelled  by  the  hand  at  the  levers,  but  as  a  being 
who  can  do  or  not  do,  resolve  or  forbear  to  resolve,  love  or  hate, 
very  much  as  he  is  pleased  to  prefer. 

This  we  believe  to  be  the  doctrine  which  fulfills  Vincent's  rule 
of  having  been  held  always,  everywhere,  and  by  all  as  the  Catho- 
lic Faith,  and  arc  also  persuaded  that  its  reasonableness  is  so  great 
that  the  mere  statement  of  it  must  prove  convincing  to  any  unprc- 
occupied  mind.  Semipelaganism  hardly  difiered  from  it  essentially 
except  in  the  one  particular  of  maintaining  that  it  lies  within  the 
compass  of  mortal  ability  to  come  without  being  specifically  called. 
It  looked  upon  God  as  the  Saviour  of  the  willing,  but  also  as  the 
recipient  of  the  eager  and  anxious,  and  sometimes  as  the  rescuer 
of  the  unwilling ;  thus  oscillating  now  towards  Pelagianism  and 
now  towards  Augustinism,  instead  of  preserving  the  steady  course 
of  the  true  doctrine.  It  taught  that  the  large  majority  of  men  are 
saved  by  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  responsive  hearts;  but 
that  in  a  few  instances,  forbearing  to  anticipate  the  prodigal's  re- 
turn by  the  outpouring  of  preventing  grace  which  makes  that 
return  possible,  he  awaits,  as  it  were,  the  sight  of  his  approaching 
form  ;  and  in  others  actually  breaks  down  the  wanderer's  opposi- 
tion and  conveys  him  forcibly  into  a  position  of  safety.  This  and 
the  Catholic  doctrine  being  so  similar  in  all  points,  perhaps,  with 
the  exception  of  that  just  mentioned,  it  is  not  very  strange  that 
they  should  have  been  mistaken  for  each  other.  Writers  of  church 
history  seem  to  speak  as  though  the  Church  in  those  days  was 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHE8US.  1S3 

divided  into  three  parties,  Augustinians,  Pelagians,  and  Semi- 
pelagians,  whereas  the  fact  is, — as  may  plainly  be  discerned  in  the 
narratives  of  those  historians,  if  not  in  the  accompanying  discus- 
sions,— that  Augustine,  Pelagius,  and  John  Cassianus  drifted  oft' in 
various  directions  from  the  vast  mass  of  Christians,  drawing  a  few 
followers  after  them,  but  leaving  the  remainder  apparently  undi- 
minished, and  not  very  greatly  disturbed  by  their  erratic  move- 
ments. 

It  may  be  thought  that  somewhat  more  of  ceremony  should  be 
shown  in  our  treatment  of  the  worthy  bishop  of  Hippo,  but,  loyal 
and  generally  orthodox  as  that  learned  Father  undoubtedly  was, 
it  may,  Avith  more  justice  still,  be  thought  by  others  that  the  at- 
tempts so  repeatedly  made  to  explain  away  the  extreme  predesti- 
narianism  of  his  views  have  not  been  signally  successful.  How- 
ever, the  respect  in  which  he  is  universally  held  demands  that  one 
great  argument,  which  is  almost  always  urged  by  his  defenders, 
and  really  has  force  with  a  large  class  of  minds,  should  be  briefly 
touched  upon.  This  is  built  upon  Foreknowledge  :  if  God  knows 
beforehand  everything  that  is  to  happen,  the  ground  of  the  fore- 
knowledge must  be  that  He  has  decreed  everything  that  shall 
occur ;  for  if  He  has  not  ordained  future  events,  how  can  He  fore- 
tell them  ?  As  must  be  apparent,  the  whole  rests  upon  the  as- 
sumption that  the  All-wise  foreknows  all  events  that  are  to  happen, 
without  limitation.  Is  that  a  proper  postulate  ?  No  one  is  likely 
to  deny  that  God  does  foresee,  ages  previous  to  their  date,  the 
mighty  revolutions  which  convulse  our  planet,  and  even  minute 
events  in  the  lives  of  individuals;  but  must  we  admit,  without 
proof,  that  the  Creator  foreknows  precisely  how  a  moral  agent  will 
decide  and  act  under  any  given  circumstances  ?  The  Bible,  we 
are  confident,  may  be  searched  in  vain,  from  cover  to  cover,  for 
the  assertion  of  any  such  thing.  May  not  the  divine  power  of 
foresight  be  like  the  human,  only  infinitely  more  perfect  ?  Witli 
close  observation  of  a  fellow-creature's  disposition  and  thorough 
acquaintance  with  the  circumstances  in  which  he  is  to  be  put,  a 
shrewd  man,  conversant  with  the  difierent  phases  of  human  life,  can 
predict  with  some  accuracy  the  course  he  will  pursue.  Penetrat- 
ing into  the  inmost  heart,  as  Jesus'  eye  read  the  secrets  of  those 
with  whom  He  conversed  in  the  days  of  His  flesh,  God  can  hardly 
be  mistaken  in  any  judgment  He  may  form  regarding  His  creat- 
ure's action.     Let  us  not  positively  aflfirm  that  the  Divine  Mind 


184  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

cannot  foreknow  with  certainty  how  every  man  will  act  under 
every  circumstance  of  his  career,  but  let  us  remember  that  no  such 
belief  is  exacted  of  us.  If  any  one's  intellect  finds  great  dijfficulty 
in  conceiving  it  possible  that  we  should  be  free  to  choose  or  reject, 
and  yet  that  it  should  be  known  countless  ages  beforehand  whether 
we  will  choose  or  whether  we  will  reject,  let  him  rellect  that  no 
obligation  rests  upon  us  to  extend  the  divine  prescience  to  such  a 
length.  We  decline  to  permit  any  one  to  dogmatize  so  far  as  to 
assume  such  a  premiss,  and  at  the  same  time  recollect  that  we 
ought  not  to  dogmatize  in  the  opposite  direction  ourselves.  Nor 
is  tliis  theory  advanced  for  any  other  purpose  than  to  afford  an 
escape  to  such  as  have  been  driven  to  Predestinationism  by  the 
difficulties  which  surround  Freedom  of  Will.  For  ourselves  we 
very  much  prefer  to  believe  that,  in  some  way  to  us  incompre- 
hensiljle,  the  All-seeing  Eye  reads  each  of  us  as  an  open  page  with 
infallible  knowledge  of  our  future.  "We  see  no  sufficient  objection 
against  such  a  theory,  no  adequate  reason  why  our  freedom  may 
not  be  absolute,  and  yet  infinite  Wisdom  be  able  to  foretell  how 
that  freedom  will  l)e  exercised.  I  sit  upon  the  sea-shore  watching 
the  slowly  receding  tide,  hail  a  passing  fisherman  to  ask  how  much 
longer  the  ebb  will  continue,  and  am  told  in  reply  that  the  flood 
will  bejrin  at  such  an  hour.  I  have  little  doubt  that  the  event 
will  correspond  with  the  prediction,  but  it  never  enters  my  mind 
to  think  that  the  one  who  gave  the  information  has  anything  to 
do  with  the  flowing  of  the  waters.  Does  it  make  any  diflference 
that  God's  prophecies  are  absolutely  reliable,  that  He  created  all 
things,  gave  laws  to  all  things,  and  set  all  things  in  motion  ?  Yes, 
a  very  great  difierence,  if  all  things  move  only  as  they  are  moved  ; 
but  if  there  exist  aught  which  is  self-moved,  aught  which  is  fi-ee  to 
choose  its  own  course,  a  morally  free  being,  millions  of  responsible 
beings,  then  the  case  is  very  much  the  same  as  that  supposed,  and 
God  may  conceivably  foreknow  without  foreordaining,  foreknow 
what  one  man  or  all  men  will  do,  and  yet  leave  him  or  them  at 
liberty  to  do  or  not  do  as  they  see  fit,  sure  that  the  event  will  not 
fiilsify  the  prophecy.  We  do  not  say  with  the  irate  Briton,  "  What 
is  Augustine  to  me?"  but  we  do  take  permission  to  weigh  the 
opinions  of  even  such  a  great  and  holy  man.  So  glorious  a  name 
shall  not  blind  us  to  errors  which  we  suppose  ourselves  to  have 
detected  in  his  system,  nor  prevent  us  from  pointing  these  out 
unreservedly  to  others. 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHE8US.  185 

Both  Pelagians  and  Predestinarians,  recognizing  tlie  indubi- 
table truth  that  large  numbers  of  people  are  sinful, — weak  and 
erring,  if  not  positively  vicious, — sought  to  explain  the  natural  and 
powerful  tendency  that  exists  in  all  towards  disobedience,  in  such 
a  way  as  not  to  unite  with  the  Manichseans  in  impugning  the 
goodness  of  the  Creator,  Thus  the  discussion  was  carried  up  to 
the  primal  man,  Adam,  according  to  Pelagius,  was  in  no  respect 
superior  to  his  descendants,  and  was  not  even  exempted  from  the 
common  fate  of  mortals,  being  subject  to  death  even  before  he 
sinned ;  while,  in  St.  Augustine's  theory,  which  as  to  this  corre- 
sponded with  the  orthodox  doctrine,  our  common  father  was  far 
more  perfect  than  we  are,  physically  as  well  as  morally,  and,  had 
he  exerted  the  ability  he  possessed  of  abstaining  from  sin,  would 
have  been  translated  to  Heaven  and  transformed  into  the  excel- 
lence of  glorified  humanity  without  stooping  to  the  painful  and 
humiliating  process  of  dying.  Diverging  thus  markedlj'^  at  their 
very  sources,  the  two  theories  flow  through  channels  which  sepa- 
rate more  widely  the  farther  one  descends  them  from  the  fountain- 
head.  If  Adam  was  no  better  than  his  children  have  been,  then 
his  sin  is  not  the  cause  of  theirs  ;  but  if  the  transgression  of  Adam 
was  the  fall  from  purity  and  righteousness  of  the  forefather  of  our 
race,  then  his  crime  and  its  consequences  must  infect  his  oifspriug 
more  or  less.  Pelagius  maintained  that  there  is  no  connection 
between  Adam's  sin  and  those  of  his  descendants,  except  so  far 
as  that  his  conduct  was  a  bad  example,  inviting  the  imitation  of 
posterity :  the  followers  of  Augustine,  if  not  that  saint  himself, 
held  the  theory  of  a  mysterious  transmission  of  the  taint  through 
all  generations  of  men,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  impute  sinful- 
ness to  all  on  account  of  this  inherited  tendency.  In  attempting 
to  form  an  opinion  on  this  difficult  subject,  we  may  well  com- 
mence with  a  study  of  the  laws  of  inheritance  in  general,  and  may 
expect  great  help  from  the  investigations  made  in  quite  modern 
times  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  and  establishing  these  laws. 
We  are  in  a  better  position  to  undertake  such  a  task  than  men 
ever  were  before.  The  experiments  of  stock-breeders  alone  ought 
to  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  any  reasonable  person  that  characteristics 
are  not  only  transmitted  from  parents  to  their  offspring,  but  in- 
tensified and  rendered  durable  to  such  an  extent  as  decidedly  and 
permanently  to  modify  the  species,  under  certain  circumstances 
and  within  certain  limits.     The  attention  that  has  been  paid  to 


186  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

ethnology  and  kindred  branches  in  late  years,  has  discovered  that 
men  are  scarcely  less  subject  to  these  laws  than  the  brute  creation, 
a  truth  which  common  observation  readily  discerns  in  the  differ- 
ent families  resident  in  any  given  neighborhood,  recognizing  with 
facility  the  distinguishing  features  and  mental  peculiarities  of 
each.  If  necessary,  the  criminal  calendar  may  be  put  into  requi- 
sition also,  to  show  that  crime  runs  in  families,  some  families  being 
notoriously  thievish  for  three  or  four  generations,  others  murder- 
ous, still  others  profligate,  and  all  probably  continuing  to  display 
these  de])lorable  family  traits  until  the  race  has  died  out.  This 
view  does  not  lack  Scriptural  corroboration, — as  is  sufficiently 
well-known, — but  must  not  be  pressed  too  far.  Man  inherits 
nothing  more  than  a  tendency  to  sin.  If  this  inclination  is  irre- 
sistible, then  the  victim  of  it  is  not  chargeable  with  the  guilt  of 
the  offenses  to  which  it  leads,  unless  a  sepoy  shot  from  the  English 
guns  was  responsible  for  the  slaughter  of  the  man  against  whom 
the  powder  hurled  him.  Distinctly  let  it  be  affirmed  that  if  a 
man  is  born  with  an  unconquemUe  appetite  for  liquor,  we  will 
say,  he  is  no  more  responsible  for  becoming  a  drunkard  than  he 
would  be  were  he  seized,  and  bound,  and  the  alcohol  poured  down 
his  throat.  The  appetite  may  be  immensely  strong  by  hereditary 
predisposition,  and  the  individual  remain  a  responsible  agent;  but 
once  the  line  is  passed  that  renders  the  force  of  temptation  insur- 
mountable, the  unfortunate  being  becomes  insane^  and  of  course 
not  answerable  for  what  he  does.  This  is  the  fii'st  limitation. 
The  second  is  that  the  disposition  to  commit  sin  nmst  not  be 
accounted  sin.  It  is  beyond  measure  astonishing  that  any  one 
should  ever  have  been  found  so  unreasonable  as  to  believe  that  an 
inherited  tendency  could  be  imputed  against  infant  or  adult  as 
sin.  Just  as  properly  could  we  reproach  a  cripple  for  being  bom 
with  a  crooked  leg,  or  rebuke  those  unfortunate  children  who  are 
born  with  weak  lungs,  feeble  eyes,  or  defective  circulation,  because 
they  are  not  sounder.  Here  lies  a  wretched  sufferer  who  has 
hardly  known  a  comfortable  hour  since  birth.  One  of  your  stern 
theorizers  approaches  the  bedside  and  commences  his  diatribe : 
"You  wicked,  lost  wretch  !  Why  are  you  lying  idle  there  with  a 
whole  world  going  to  destruction  ?  Why  do  you  not  go  forth  and 
bear  your  part  manfully  in  the  great  struggle  ?  What  right  have 
you  to  be  indulging  yourself  in  sickness  and  misery  ?  You  are 
very  much  to  blame  for  being  in  such  a  helpless  condition :  it  is 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPHESUS.  187 

true  that  you  cannot  change  it,  that  you  came  into  it  without  so 
much  as  having  given  your  consent,  and  that  you  would  gladly 
be  well ;  and  it  is  true  that  the  whole  fault  is  chargeable  upon  the 
criminal  weakness,  or  scarcely  more  pardonable  ignorance,  of  your 
parents  in  marrying  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God  and  nature ;  but, 
however  that  may  be,  you  are  their  child,  and  are  responsible  for 
their  tault,  your  miserable  plight  is  a  token  of  God's  anger  at  you, 
and  if  you  do  not  repent  and  do  better,  you  know  what  you  have 
to  expect."  Who  tliat  heard  such  words  in  a  sick-room  would 
not  be  strongly  tempted  to  seize  the  unfeeling  brute,  and  eject  him 
with  tokens  of  righteous  indignation  that  even  his  rhinoceros'  hide 
would  not  shield  him  from  i!  Let  us  beware  of  blaspheming  God, 
and  doing  a  serious  injury  to  religion.  Such  argumentation  is 
simple  and  unmitigated  nonsense.  All  the  theology  in  the  world 
must  be  unable  to  convince  a  thoughtful  man  that  a  child  can 
justly  be  held  criminally  accountable  for  inheriting  a  taint,  tend- 
ency, or  weakness;  and  any  theology  that  makes  the  attempt 
puts  the  knife  to  its  own  throat.  It  is  no  wonder  that  intelligent 
men  with  hearts  in  their  bosoms,  and  some  sense  of  justice  and 
reverence  still  left,  become  impatient  of  such  a  doctrine.  Origi- 
nal Sin,  therefore,  is  not  sin  at  all,  nor  sinful,  if  by  Original  Sin 
we  mean  that  proneness  to  evil  which  we  inherit  from  our  ances- 
tors :  it  leads  towards  actual  sin,  it  results  in  positive  offenses ; 
but  in  itself  it  is  no  more  sinful  than  infantine  hydrocephalus  or 
consumption  is  sinful. 

The  existence  of  this  universally-transmitted  downward  tend- 
ency in  such  strength,  necessitated  the  advent  of  our  Saviour. 
"When  it  was  asked  why  Christ  came,  Pelagius,  not  at  all  disputing 
the  divinity  of  the  Redeemer,  was  ready  with  an  answer  which 
fitted  admirably  into  the  remainder  of  the  system,  and  declared 
that  His  mission  was  that  of  setting  mankind  an  example  which 
should  counterbalance  the  bad  one  given  by  the  first  Adam.  In 
opposing  this  tenet  the  orthodox  afiirmed  that  Jesus  Christ  was 
much  more  than  a  pattern ;  that  He  undid  that  which  Adam  had 
so  unhappily  done;  that  He  neutralized  in  those  who  accepted 
Him  as  the  Second  Adam  the  tendency  towards  wrong  ;  that  He 
became  to  all  such  a  new  principle  of  life,  and  that  the  redemp- 
tion accomplished  by  Him  extended  to  the  bodies  as  well  as  to 
the  souls  of  men.  Adam  was  the  father  of  the  human  family. 
All  born  in  that  household  are  inheritors  of  that  nature  into  which 


188  TEE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

Lis  transgression  infused  such  fatal  weakness,  and  unless  they 
avail  themselves  of  supernatural  aid,  and  strive  vigorously  against 
the  deadly  inclination,  they  must  go  on  from  bad  to  worse,  and 
finally  perish  forever.  "While  nothing  can  eradicate  that  tendency 
on  this  side  of  the  grave,  it  is  still  conceivable  that  a  contrary 
tendencv  might  be  implanted  which  should  wage  internecine  war 
with  it,  grappling  it  in  a  lifelong  embrace,  and  slowly  but  surely 
crushing  it.  At  the  same  time,  both  tendencies  may  be  in  a  great 
measure  subject  to  the  control  of  the  human  will,  either  being 
greatly  assisted  or  impeded  in  its  efforts  according  as  the  man's 
volition  joins  with  it  or  battles  against  it.  Moreover,  the  good 
principle  might  be  supposed  to  lie  dormant  for  many  years  after 
it  has  been  implanted,  awaiting  an  opportunity  to  shoot  uji  from 
the  soil.  Then,  too,  the  upward  tendency  might  be  handed  on  by 
spiritual  inheritance,  as  the  downward  is  by  the  natural.  Such  is 
precisely  the  catholic  doctrine  of  Baptismal  Tlegeneration,  which 
is  in  substance  that  Christ  is  the  Spiritual  Adam,  who,  assuming 
the  nature  which  had  been  vitiated  bv  the  natural  Adam,  raised 
it  to  more  than  its  pristine  perfection,  and  imparts  the  benefit  of 
the  exaltation  through  the  Holy  Spirit's  agency  to  all  who  are 
made  in  baptism  the  children  of  God,  implanting  in  their  spiritual 
natures  at  the  time  of  that  Is^ew  Birth  a  Principle  of  Life  which, 
if  assisted  by  their  own  eaniest  efforts,  the  energizings  of  their 
soids^ — or  moral,  as  distinguished  from  spiritual,  natures, — enters 
at  once  into  close  combat  with  the  principle  of  death  inherited 
through  the  first  or  natural  birth,  and  gradually  chokes  and  sup- 
plants it. 

The  Council  of  Ephesus  condemned  Pelagius  and  his  doctrines, 
but  did  not  sanction  Predestinarianism.  How  it  would  have 
treated  the  peculiar  views  of  St.  Augustine,  had  they  come  before 
it,  we  cannot  positively  say.  Let  it,  therefore,  content  us  that 
the  Church  never  has  authoritatively  pronounced  upon  the  great 
topic  of  fore-ordination.  The  questions  involved  in  that  discus- 
sion are  consequently  not  de  Jide;  so  that  a  Christian  can  hold  to 
Calvinism,  Arminianism,  or  even  Semipelagianism,  and  not  be 
liable  to  censure  for  heresy.  Such  latitude  does  the  Church 
allow. 

Lest  the  system  which  has  been  represented  as  the  one  held 
by  the  orthodox  should  by  some  be  charged  with  having  no  doc- 
trine of  Election,  it  remains  that  a  brief  statement  be  subjoined 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  EPEESUS.  189 

regarding  the  view  generally  entertained  by  tlie  received  divines 
of  the  Church.    That  God  does  predestinate  some  from  all  eternity 
to  be  His  choseu  people,  is  undeniable.     What  we  deny  is  merely 
that  He  predestinates  some  to  happiness  and  others  to  misery,  or 
that  He  selects  some  for  everlasting  felicity  and  leaves  others  to 
an  inevitable  doom.     The  Ideality  of  such  doctrines  of  Election 
as  those  held  by  Calvinists,  Arminians,  and  Nationalists  is  utterly 
wrong.     It  is  one  thing  to  decree  that  a  given  individual  shall 
be  among  the  number  of  the  finally  saved,  and  a  far  different 
thing  to  ordain  that  he  shall  be  environed  with  many  and  great 
facilities  for  working  out  his  own  salvation,     God  does  give  one 
person  what  appears  to  us  an  infinitely  better  chance  of  salvation 
than  falls  to  the  lot  of  another.     One  child,  for  instance,  is  reared 
by  Cliristian  parents,  whose  prayers  shield,  and  whose  diligent 
and  wise  care  protects  its  inexperienced  and  tender  years ;  while 
another   is   trained  with  equal  assiduity  in  the  arts  of  pocket- 
picking  and  house-breaking.     Similarly  the  Omnipotent  so  orders 
it  that  one  person  is  proffered  all  the  privileges  of  the  Holy  Cath- 
olic Church,  while  another  is  left  to  grow  up  under  influences 
that  render  him  fiercely  hostile  to  the  Gospel.     The  one  may  not 
accept  the  advantages  offered  him,  or  else  may  neglect  to  improve 
thera,  and  so  may  convert  them  into  curses ;  and  the  other  may 
overcome  his  disadvantages,  and  force  his  way  out  of  darkness 
into  the  light  of  truth ;  so  that  such  an  election  is  not  an  election 
that  puts  a  man  under  compulsion  at  all,  but  one  that  finds  him 
able  to  obtain  salvation,  and  leaves  him  capable  of  forfeiting  it. 
The  days  were  when  Israel  after  the  flesh  were  the  chosen  people, 
the  "  Elect,"  of  Jehovah.    They  were  not  all  good  persons  by  any 
means,  and  yet  all  who  had  received  the  rite  of  circumcision  wwe 
of  the  number  of  the  "  Elect  j  "  God  selecting  them  to  perform  the 
great  work  of  preparing  mankind  for  the  Messiah,  and  to  keep 
alive  the  knowledge  and  worship  of  Him  upon  the  earth,  and 
honoring  them  with  many  valuable  spiritual  and  temporal  bless- 
ings ;  but  leaving  them  entirely  free  to  obey  Him  or  to  disobey 
Him,  to  practice  good  or  commit  evil,  to  merit  eternal  punish- 
ment or  obtain  unending  bliss,  as  they  chose.     Those  days  have  in 
a  sense  gone  by,  for  a  remnant  only  acknowledged  their  Saviour 
when  He  came.    To  that  Remnant  has  been  added  the  vast  multi- 
tude of  the  baptized,  and  these  together  now  make  np  the  Elect. 
From  the  thronging  myriads  of  mankind,  some  nations,  some 


190  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

persons  have  been  called  into  the  fold  of  the  Church,  while  others 
have  been  left  to  wander.  From  East  and  West  and  North  and 
South  they  kneel,  and  have  knelt,  and  will  yet  kneel,  before  the 
baptismal  font,  or  stand  beneath  the  canopy  of  heaven  where 
stream  or  lake  affords  the  cleansing  element ;  and  each,  signed 
and  sealed,  and  regenerated,  from  that  moment  may  know  him- 
self an  elect  man,  and  one  effect aalUj  called,  but  yet  in  danger  of 
falUng  away,  and  sure  to  do  so  unless  he  exercise  due  vigilance. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE   COUNCIL    OF    CHALCEDON. 

There  were  now  to  be  seen  arrayed  against  each  other  two 
powers  which  have  usually  been  linked  in  close  alliance.  On  the 
one  side  raged  those  vast  communities  of  fanatical  and  often  law- 
less separatists  from  society  which  abounded  all  over  the  East. 
These  men  had  severed  all  the  links  which  bound  them  to  the 
great  world  except  one  :  they  had  forgotten  father  and  mother, 
brothers  and  sisters,  not  uncommonly  wife  and  children  :  thev  had 
turned  their  backs  on  all  ambitious  desires,  longings  after  luxuri- 
ous enjoyment,  cravings  for  wealth,  pantings  after  noble  activities ; 
they  had  gone  down  alive  into  a  self-dug  grave ;  and  yet  they  were 
held  by  one  tie  to  the  great,  busy,  bustling,  struggling  world,  a  tie 
which  was  made  stronger  by  the  very  fact  of  its  being  the  sole  re- 
maining bond.  Whatever  agitation  of  society  threatened  or  dis- 
turbed this  link,  sent  an  electric  thrill  through  the  scattered  thou- 
sands of  coenobites  and  anchorites.  Nitrian  plains  and  mountains, 
Syrian  forests  and  deserts,  the  thronged  streets  of  Constantinople 
and  Alexandria,  all  shook  as  by  some  mystic  force,  and  heard  with 
alarm  the  premonitory  shouts  and  whispers  of  marshaling  hosts. 
In  the  present  controversy  that  was  at  stake  which  touched  every 
monkish  heart  at  that  tenderest  of  all  spots,  where  the  divine  in- 
sensibly blends  vtdth  the  human  in  the  deepest  of  all  affections. 
Every  recluse  of  Egypt  or  the  East  felt  that  the  Nestorian  contest 
pointed  a  fatal  weapon  at  the  religion  of  Christ,  and  was  also  sen- 
sible of  a  peculiar  sting  in  any  docti'ine  which  detracted  from  the 
real  or  fictitious  honor  of  the  sole  virgin  whom  he  dared  to  re- 
member. "While  the  great  body  of  the  Church  concerned  itself 
about  the  Theotokos  only  because  they  did  not  wish  to  admit,  or 
seem  in  the  remotest  particular  to  admit,  that  the  Person  born  of 
the  Virgin  was  a  mere  man,  these  others  became  almost  wild  in 
their  excitement  because  Mary  was,  in  their  opinions,  being  dis- 


192  THE  CHURCn  AND   THE  FAITH. 

honored  bj  the  rash  patriarch  of  Constantinople  and  his  adher- 
ents. Hence  proceeded  the  poM'erfiil  inducements  which  called 
out  Dalmatius  from  his  living  sepulchre,  and,  along  with  him, 
another  man  destined  to  figure  very  largely  in  the  strife,  another 
abbot,  Eutjches  by  name.  This  power,  being  that  of  combined 
self-devotion,  high,  enthusiastic  love,  and  nntrammeled  energy, 
was  one  calculated  to  achieve  tremendous  results. 

Although  one  in  interest  and  feeling,  this  power  yet  lacked 
unity  of  organization.  Against  it  came  that  wonderful  system 
which  was  in  later  years  to  mould  the  monkish  fraternities  into 
its  staunchest  and  most  valuable  adherents,  personated  in  one  of 
the  most  remarkaljle  men  of  his  aire.  When  the  dreaded  Huns, 
repulsed  from  Gaul  by  the  skill  and  bravery  of  ^Etius  and  his 
Goths,  and  seeking  to  wipe  awa}'  the  disgrace  which  had  covered 
their  arms  on  the  field  of  Chalons,  broke  like  a  toirent  through 
the  barriers  of  Italy  and  swept  over  that  dismayed  land,  leaving 
Aquileia  to  mourn  in  ashes  a  prolonged  and  gallant  resistance, 
and  seizing  the  royal  palace  at  Milan,  Leo  of  Kome,  in  company 
with  two  other  ambassadors  of  the  trembling  Yalentinian  HI., 
entered  as  a  suppliant  the  camp  of  the  fierce  barbarian,  and  won 
from  him  a  treaty  which  turned  his  steps  away  from  the  Eternal 
City;  and  when,  again,  the  fleets  of  those  hordes  which  had  over- 
run North  Africa,  discharged  the  troops  of  Genseric  at  the  port  of 
Ostia,  Leo  shrank  not  from  the  face  of  an  Arian  conqueror,  but 
marched  out  of  the  gates  at  the  head  of  an  unarmed  procession  to 
meet  the  approaching  soldiery,  and  entreat  clemency  for  the  help- 
less citizens.  Brave,  artful,  and  possessed  of  extraordinary  talents, 
this  bishop  devoted  his  abilities  to  the  aggrandizement  of  his  see, 
ad%'ancing  claims  which  had  hardly  found  lodgment  in  the  imagi- 
nations of  his  predecessors,  and  seemingly  anticipating,  as  far  as  he 
was  able,  the  bold  schemes  of  Ilildebrand.  In  a  notable  contest 
with  Hilary  of  Aries,  about  the  right  of  the  patriarch  to  restore  a 
bishop  regularly  deposed  by  his  metropolitan,  Leo  I.  manifested 
at  once  his  ambitiousness  and  his  capability,  qualities  which  were 
also  displayed  with  sufficient  plainness  in  his  conduct  during  the 
Eutychian  controversy,  about  which  we  are  now  concerned.  All 
authorities,  however,  are  agreed  in  awarding  to  Leo  a  right  to  his 
historical  title  of  Great,  and  in  conceding  to  him  the  praise  of 
unimpeachable  orthodoxy.  Certainly  it  is  no  slight  credit  to  the 
Roman  see  that  its  testimony  was  borne  so  unwaveringly  against 


THE  COUNCIL   OF  CHALCEDOX.  193 

two  opposite  heresies ;  Celestine  nnliesitatiiigly  condemning  that 
of  the  two-fold  personahtj,  without  following  Cyril  into  seeming 
Eutychianism;  and  Leo  opposing  with  even  greater  decision  the 
error  of  the  one  nature,  without  reverting  into  Nestorianism. 

The  antagonism  between  these  two  powers  was  real  enough, 
but  fell  far  short  of  the  bitterness  which  still  marked  the  enmity 
of  Egypt  and  tlie  East,  and  was  due,  as  of  old,  parth'  to  the  rivalry 
of  those  mighty  emporiums,  the  cities  of  Constantine  and  of  Alex- 
ander, and  partly  to  the  scholastic  emulation  between  the  disciples 
of  Origen  and  of  Diodorus.  The  reconciliation  eiFected  in  Cyril's 
day  had  been  only  a  partial  one,  and  soon  gave  place  to  renewed 
strife  of  even  greater  malignity. 

In  the  year  444  Alexandria  was  deprived  of  the  talents,  and 
delivered  from  the  oppressions,  of  Cyril,  and  received  in  his  stead 
a  prelate  who  surpassed  him  in  everything  but  ability,  being  even 
more  violent  and  unscrupulous  than  he,  but  devoid  of  his  dexterity 
in  adapting  his  measures  to  the  exigencies  of  the  occasion,  and 
chargeable  with  gross  immoralities  of  the  basest  sort.  This  man, 
in  order  to  extend  his  influence,  indulged  in  the  extremely  objec- 
tionable practice  of  encouraging  the  disaflTected  in  other  jurisdic- 
tions, increasing  greatly  in  this  way  the  difficulties  which  always 
attend  the  administration  of  discipline,  and  fanning  into  a  hot 
blaze  what  else  would  speedily  have  died  out  of  itself,  besides 
alienating  from  himself  the  affections  of  his  brethren.  Among 
those  out  of  his  own  patriarchate  who  suffered  from  his  machina- 
tions were  three  of  considerable  note,  two  of  whom  were  suspected 
of  leaning  towards  Nestorianism.  Theodoret  of  Cyrus  incurred 
his  displeasure  by  adding  his  name  to  the  list  of  signers  to  a  cir- 
cular letter  issued  by  Proclus  of  Constantinople, — an  act  which 
was  distorted  into  an  acknowledgment  of  the  supremacy  of  that 
patriarch  over  his  own  proper  patriarch,  the  Syrian,-;— and  w\ns 
punished  for  that  and  for  heresy  by  an  anathema.  Ibas  of  Edessa 
narrowly  escaped  a  similar  fate.  But  the  full  weight  of  Alexan- 
drian anger  descended  upon  Flavian  of  Constantinople,  whose 
great  offense  was  that  he  occupied  a  loftier  throne  than  that  which 
held  Dioscorus. 

Domnus  of  Antioch,  at  tlie  instigation  of  Dioscorus,  accused 
Eutyches,  who  was  a  presbyter  as  well  as  an  abbot,  to  Flavian, 
but  with  no  effect,  as  he  himself  lay  under  suspicion  of  !N^estorian- 
ism.     About  one  year  subsequent,  448,  another  accuser  appeared 


194  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

on  the  scene  in  the  person  of  the  same  Eusebius  who  had  been 
prime  mover  in  the  attack  upon  Nestorius,  and  who  appears  to 
have  been  one  of  those  far-seeing,  self-sacrificing,  brave  spirits 
who,  preferring  the  turmoil  of  a  just  and  unavoidable  war  to  the 
stagnation  of  indifference  and  the  lethargy  of  moral  death,  val- 
iantly lead  forlorn  hopes  to  the  great  disturbance  of  their  own 
peace,  and  the  no  small  damage  of  their  reputations.  He,  now 
bishop  of  Doryla?um,  denounced  Eutyches  to  his  patriarch,  and 
had  him  summoned  before  the  council  which  sat  that  year, 
much  against  the  wishes  of  Flavian,  whose  prudence  or  timidity 
shrank  from  the  fierce  contest, which  he  too  truly  foreboded, with 
the  factious  partisans  who  were  sure  to  throng  to  the  support  of 
the  abbot.  Eutyches  was  ready  with  a  subterfuge :  he  had  regis- 
tered a  mental  vow  not  to  leave  his  monastery.  Unfortunately 
for  him,  it  was  remembered  that  he  had  alreadv  swerved  from 
that  resolution  on  one  memorable  occasion.  He  yielded  so  far  at 
length  as  to  put  in  an  appearance,  but  came  supported  by  a  large 
train  of  monks  and  soldiers,  and  by  an  imperial  commissioner ;  all 
which  protection,  however,  did  not  avail  to  save  him  from  being 
found  guilty  of  lapsing  into  the  errors  of  Valentinus  and  ApoUi- 
narius,  nor  from  deposition  and  excommunication.  Eutyches 
forthwith  made  informal  appeals  to  the  three  remaining  patri- 
archs, and  had  tlic  satisfaction  of  being  received  into  communion 
by  the  ofiicious  and  intermeddling  Dioscorus.  Theodosius,  hav- 
ing weakly  and  vainly  tried  to  reconcile  the  patriarch  and  his 
deprived  presbyter,  yielding  to  the  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon 
him  by  the  Alexandrian  ftiction  through  Chrysaphius,  the  reign- 
ing eunuch,  called  the  council  which  the  other  side  deprecated  as 
wholly  unnecessary.  Ephesus  and  the  same  church  of  St.  Mary, 
which  eighteen  years  before  had  resounded  to  the  acclamations  of 
a  general  council,  witnessed  the  assembling  of  tliat  infamous  body 
which  Leo  so  forciblv  characterized  as  a  "  Eobber  Svnod."  The 
second  council  of  Ephesus,  held  in  449,  was  most  irregularly  con- 
stituted and  conducted.  In  the  first  place,  it  was  unscrupulously 
packed,  many  of  those  bishops  who  were  thought  to  be  unfavor- 
able to  Eutyches  being  excluded,  on  the  ground  that  they  were 
Nestorians,  or  on  any  other  frivolous  charges  that  could  be 
trumped  up  against  them,  Theodoret  being  specially  singled  out 
by  name  for  exclusion,  unless  the  impossibility  should  occur  that 
the  unanimous  wish  of  the  assembly  should  desire  his  presence ; 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  CHALCEDON.  195 

and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Syrian  abbot,  Barsumas,  being  re- 
ceived as  the  equivalent  of  a  bishop  in  behalf  of  the  monkish  fac- 
tion.    In  the  second  place,  the  whole  council  was  overawed,  with 
the  exception  of  those  dauntless  souls  whom  nothing  could  shake, 
by  a  vast  concourse  of  unruly  and  ungoverned  monks  and  para- 
bolani,  who  attended  upon  the  steps  of  Dioscorus  and  Barsumas. 
From  beginning  to  end  there  seems  to  have  been  little  else  than 
riot  and  disorder.     Cyril's  successor  apparently  remembered  the 
transactions  of  the  former  meeting,  and  had  resolved  to  outrival 
his  master.     One  of  his  shrewdest  acts  as  president  was  to  expel 
all  reporters  but  those  on  his  own  side,  thus  obviating  the  danger 
of  adverse  accounts  reaching  the  imperial  ear.     He  contrived  to 
evade  the  repeated  efforts  of  the  Roman  delegates  to  secure  a 
hearing  for  a  letter  which  their  patriarch  had  addressed  to  Flavian, 
it  being  too  powerful  an  exposition  of  the  true  doctrine,  in  oppo- 
sition to  both  Nestorius  and  Eutyches,  to  please  one  who  had 
already  determined  for  the  council  as  to  how  it  must  decide.    This 
letter  having  been  received  by  the  assembly,  the  exclusion  of  it 
was  a  wrong  to  them,  as  well  as  an  insult  to  its  author.     The  ex- 
culpation of  Eutyches  was,  of  course,  a  foregone  conclusion,  and 
so  was  the  condemnation  and  deposition  of  Flavian,  even  though 
in  effecting  it  recourse  should  be  had  to  extreme  duress.     The 
two  imperial  commissioners  who  had  been  deputed  to  keep  order, 
either  had  a  most  extraordinary  conception  of  their  duties,  or 
were  very  incompetent  officers.    Instead  of  restraining  the  tendency 
to  riot,  the  civil  arm  added  to  it  a  great  accession  of  force.    When 
the  grand  scene  of  terrorism  was  about  to  be  enacted,  the  pro- 
consul of  Asia,  obedient  to  the  summons  of  Dioscorus,  advanced 
into  the  hall,  attended  by  his  minions.     A  blank  sheet  of  paper, 
intended  to  be  filled  out  with  a  sentence  of  deposition  upon  Fla- 
vian, was  displayed,  and  the  bishops  bidden  to  sign  it.     A  few, 
probably,  refused  obedience.     One  of  the  Eoman  delegates,  the 
deacon  Hilary,  showed  becoming  independence,  and   had   difll- 
culty  in  escaping  through  by-ways  to  Italy ;  Eusebius  was  im- 
prisoned, but  escaped;  Theodoret,  Ibas,  and  even  Domnus  were 
visited  with  conciliar  censure ;  and  as  for  Flavian,  he  was  so  terribly 
maltreated, — even  to  the  extent  of  being  kicked  and  stamped  upon 
by  Dioscorus  and  Barsumas,  according  to  the  charge  of  Eusebius 
of  Doryl^um  against  them,  as  recorded  by  Evagrius, — that  he 
died  on  a  journey  only  a  few  days  afterwards. 


196  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH 

Eutychianism,  like  Xestorianism,  was  au  attempt  to  explain 
the  nature  of  the  union  between  God  and  man  in  Jesus  Christ. 
The  latter  started  from  the  two  natures,  and  argued  that,  inasmucli 
as  the  natures  were  separate  and  distinct,  there  nmst  be  person- 
alities con'cspondent ;  while  the  former  set  out  with  the  proposi- 
tion that  there  is  only  one  person,  and  proceeded  to  deduce  thence 
a  conclusion  fully  as  unwarranted  as  that  against  which  Cyril  had 
contended  so  fiercely  at  the  fii'st  council  of  Ephesus.  Eutychian- 
ism was  plaiidy  a  reaction  from  the  doctrine  of  Xestorius,  as  that 
had  been  from  the  still  earlier  heresy  of  Apollinarius.  When  men 
vehemently  oppose  a  particular  opinion,  they  are  apt  to  swing  over 
to  its  opposite :  so  nothing  was  more  natural  than  that,  in  an  at- 
tempt to  put  down  the  error  of  two  persons,  they  should  insist 
BO  strongly  upon  the  unity  of  individuality  as  to  make  it  include 
a  unity  of  nature  also.  Eutychianism  was,  in  some  respects,  a 
return  to  the  Apollinarian  point  of  view :  for  Apollinarius  had 
really  fused  the  two  natures  into  one  by  denying  to  our  Lord  a 
human  ^nrit ;  but  it  differed  in  canying  the  fusion  m\ich  urther, 
or  rather,  in  boldly  acknowledging  the  connningling  that  had 
been  only  inferentially  taught  by  the  older  system;  and  also  in 
making  the  change  take  place  after  the  union,  both  natures  hav- 
ing been  perfect  and  entire,  the  divine  consubstantial  with  the 
Father,  the  human  consubstantial  with  ordinary  humanity,  until 
the  moment  at  which  they  were  combined  in  the  womb  of  the 
Virgin.  With  respect  to  this  last  point,  difficulty  surrounds  the 
notion  of  the  preexistence  of  the  consubstantial  humanity,  which 
tenet  only  escaped  going  over  bodily  to  Nestorianism,  and  taking 
all  with  it,  by  being  explained  of  abstract  human  nature,— what- 
ever that  may  be. 

We  have  already  studied  the  necessity  of  a  unipersonality  in 
our  Saviour,  and  are  now  to  see  the  equal  necessity  of  the  con- 
tinued separateness  of  the  two  natures.  The  belief  in  one  nature 
builds  itself  chiefly  upon  the  difficulty  of  imagining  a  union  of  the 
divine  with  the  human  without  a  fusion.  The  trouble  is  not  in  ad- 
mitting the  possibility  that  an}-^  two  natures  should  preserve  their 
distinctness  though  meeting  in  the  same  person,  for  that  every  man 
knows  to  be  one  of  the  mysteries  of  his  own  existence,  feeling  him- 
self a  duplex  being,  in  whom  reside  the  two  unmingled  natures 
of  the  animal  and  the  spirit ;  but  in  conceiving  the  possibility  of 
such  union  between  natures  as  widely  separated  from  each  other 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  CHALCEDON.  197 

as  the  divine  and  the  human.     Every  one  must  be  sensible  of  the 
weight  of  this  objection  who  does  not  view  the  question  with  the 
rapid  and  cursory  glance  of  long  acceptance,  but  calmly  and  stead- 
ily, as  Plato  would  have  gazed  upon  it  had  the  mystery  of  the  in- 
carnation been  revealed  to  him  while  investigating  the  problems 
of  earth.     How  can  a  person  be  at  once  created  and  uncreate, 
passible  and  impassible,  weak  and  all-mighty,  mortal  and  immor- 
tal, confined  in  space  and  filling  immensity  with  his  presence, 
finite  and  infinite  ?     This  is  the  mystery,  this  the  hard  problem, 
this  the  almost  insurmountable  obstacle  to  faith.     And,  lo !  it  is 
proposed  to  solve  and  remove  it  by  mixing  the  two  natures  !     It 
is  hard  to  believe  that  the  same  person  hung  in  agony  upon  the 
cross  and  sat  painless  upon  the  eternal  throne ;  but  is  it  easier  to 
credit,  not  that  one  person  did  thus  in  two  distinct  natures,  but 
that  one  person  in  one  nature  felt  at  once  and  did  not  feel  the 
suflerings  of  Calvary  ?     Is  it  not   by  far  easier  to  conceive  the 
perfect   distinctness   of  the   two   natures,  than   to   see   how  the 
human   could   retain   its  existence    at   all   when    once   a   fusion 
commenced  ?     Can  the  infinite  be  to  a  small  degree  finite,  and 
not   become   altogether   finite;  or  can   almightiness   partake   of 
weakness,  to  however  small  a  degree,  without  ceasing  to  be  om- 
nipotent ?     Another  difiiculty  discloses  itself  when  we  turn  our 
thoughts  to  the  notion  of  personahty,  and  wonder  how  a  person 
already  existent  can  endure  the  augmentation  of  a  new  nature. 
In  our  ideas  the  personality,  eternally-existent,  of  God  the  Son, 
seems  too  thoroughly  filled  up  to  admit  of  the  addition  of  a  dis- 
tinct, a  continuously  distinct,  nature ;  whereas  we  can  find  anal- 
ogies in  the  changeableness  of  which  we  are  conscious  to  support 
the  idea  of  such  an  addition,  provided  only  the  added  nature  be 
blended  with  the  old  and  absorbed  into  it.     Let  us  candidly  admit 
the  strength  of  both  these  objections,  and  in  reply  merely  urge 
their   insufficiency  to  discredit   revelation;   in   order   to   accom- 
plish which  it  would  be  requisite  to  adduce  such  evident  incon- 
sistency that  logic  would  compel  us  to  say,  not  simply,  I  cannot 
comprehend  this,  but  explicitly,  I  cannot  credit  the  possibility  of 
this.     Faith  comes  to  our  aid  upon  the  failure  of  the  Understand- 
ing, and  enables  the  humble-minded  to  believe,  iq^on  sufficient 
emdence^  whatever  is  not  invincibly  hostile  to  Keason. 

Having  already  shown  how  any  tenet  which  detracts  in  the 
slightest  degree  from  the  unbroken  integrity  of  the  two  natures 


198  JTHE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

undermines  the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement  in  general,  it  is  only 
necessary  here  to  point  out  particularly  how  the  commingling  of 
them  militates  against  the  continuous  exercise  of  the  Mediatorial 
office.  If  the  mediatorship  was  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  con- 
junction once  for  all,  at  one  instant  of  time,  of  God  and  man,  its 
function  would  have  been  discharged,  even  had  a  fusion  of  the 
two  natures  instantly  taken  place,  at  the  moment  that  their  junc- 
tion occurred ;  but  that  would  be  a  very  inadequate  and  unworthy 
view,  indeed,  of  the  tremendous  and  glorious  work  which  God  the 
Son  undertook  in  becoming  man.  His  design  was  to  effect  a  per- 
manent union  of  the  two  natures  in  Himself  as  a  living  witness 
to  all  the  universe  that  heaven  and  earth  were  reconciled.  As 
angels  or  men  should  dwell  in  adoring  contemplation  upon  the 
living  Christ,  they  were  to  behold  in  His  two  unmixed  natures, 
united  in  His  one  person,  irrefragable  proof  of  this  amazing  fact. 
Moreover,  in  order  to  act  as  intercessor  for  the  sinner,  the  ascended 
Christ  needs  the  undiminished  glory  and  undinimed  attributes 
of  the  Godhead  in  order  to  approach  the  Father,  and  the  weakness 
and  narrowness  of  the  humanity  in  order  to  descend  to  the  cul- 
prit's level ;  while,  as  the  Judge  of  living  and  dead  He  will  require, 
upborne  upon  the  cloud-wrapped  throne  of  awful  whiteness,  both 
the  omniscience  of  perfect  deity  and  the  sensibilities  and  sympa- 
thies of  unimpaired  humanity.  AVhat  assurance  could  we  have 
that  a  mediator  who  was  neither  God  nor  man,  but  a  fusion  of  the 
two,  would  cither  feel  for  us  in  our  struggles  and  sufferings  with 
the  sympathetic  heart  of  perfect  manhood,  or  judge  us  correctly 
and  infallibly  with  the  omniscience  of  divinity?  The  Inspired 
Volume  can  hardly  be  expected  to  speak  very  explicitly  on  this 
point,  any  more  than  on  the  unipersonalit3\  The  Scriptural  proof 
of  the  continuous  and  unbroken  existence  of  the  two  distinct 
natures  must  be  in  a  great  measure  inferential.  Therefore,  the 
question  is  just  the  one  upon  which  we  need  the  explicit  declara- 
tion of  some  authority  to  which  all  are  bound  to  defer.  The 
"  Robber  Synod  "  gave  an  utterance  thereupon  which  evoked  no 
universal  responsive  echo,  but  rather  elicited  the  muttered  or  out- 
spoken condemnation  and  execration  of  a  large  majority  of  those 
who  received  a  report  of  its  proceedings.  Agitation  almost  imme- 
diately began  for  the  holding  of  another  council,  to  undo  the 
wretched  work  of  the  Latrocinium;  but  Theodosius  turned  a  deaf 
ear  to  a  request  of  that  kind,  which  was  made  at  Leo's  urgent  sup- 


TEE  COUNCIL   OF  CEALCEDOK.  199 

plication,  by  the  emperor  of  the  West ;  and  would  probably  have 
delayed  the  downfall  of  Eutychianism  for  several  years,had  not  an 
accident  providentially  removed  him  from  earth. 

A  stumbling  horse  will  break  the  neck  of  an  emperor  as 
readily  as  that  of  a  groom ;  at  least  so  the  courtiers  of  Constanti- 
nople must  have  thought  as  they  beheld  the  sacred  person  of 
Theodosius  hurled  from  the  saddle  of  his  swift  hunter  into  the 
river  Lycus,  Pulcheria,  whose  influence  had  lately  been  some- 
what eclipsed  by  that  of  the  eunuchs,  signalized  her  accession  to 
the  throne  by  immediately  executing  the  just  punishment  of  death 
and  confiscation  of  his  enormous  possessions  upon  the  worthless 
Chrysaphius.  For  the  first  time  in  all  history  the  empire  sub- 
mitted to  female  rule.  Elevated  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  an 
attached  people,  exj)erienced  in  directing  affairs  of  state,  familiar 
with  the  characters  of  all  who  could  aspire  to  seats  in  her  councils 
or  to  draw  their  jeweled  swords  at  the  head  of  her  armies,  and 
beloved  by  the  admiring  populace,  Pulcheria  might  pardonably 
have  forgotten  the  prejudices  and  calumnies  to  which  such  a  high 
position  exposed  a  woman  ;  but  with  the  wisdom  that  had  marked 
her  previous  career,  she  determined  to  divide  the  honors  and  cares 
of  the  throne  with  a  nominal  husband,  and  so  offered  her  hand 
and  the  purple  to  one  altogether  worthy  of  her  choice.  The 
venerable  senator  had  practiced,  through  years  of  honorable  pub- 
lic life,  the  austere  lessons  taught  first  by  severe  poverty  among 
the  hills  of  his  native  Thrace,  and  later  in  the  arduous  campaigns 
of  Aspar  and  Ardaburius.  The  virtues  which  he  had  displayed 
in  humbler  stations  did  not  desert  him  when  the  flattering  prefer- 
ence of  his  sovereign  raised  him  to  her  side,  but  justified  the 
plaudits  which  the  grateful  Church  showered  upon  an  adminis- 
tration mild  without  weakness,  just  without  severity,  and  honest 
without  parsimony. 

Theodosius  the  Younger  had  inclined  strongly  during  the 
latter  years  of  his  reign  towards  the  Eutychian  or  Alexandrian 
faction.  In  this  partiality  his  sister  had  never  sympathized  with 
him,  but  she  had  been  unable  to  make  head  against  it  and  the 
influence  of  the  corrupt  favorite.  Now  that  she  was  free  to  act 
her  own  pleasure,  and  had  chosen  for  her  colleague  a  worthy  man 
whose  theological  and  religious  views  and  sentiments  coincided 
with  her  own,  it  was  evident  that  the  star  of  heterodoxv  was  about 
to  set.     Yet  there  were  reasons  which  made  it  prudent  for  the  sov- 


200  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

ereigns  to  advance  cautiously  in  their  dealings  with  Dioscorus  and 
his  followers.     Thej  could  not  well  afford  to  do  aught  which 
would  tend  to  alienate  from  them  a  large  portion  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  an  empire  which  already  shook  beneath  the  tramp  of  ex- 
pected invaders.     They  could  not  hope  that  the  storm  which  had 
already  burst  in  such  fury  upon  the  whole  Latin  world,  inundating 
Gaul,  Spain,  Italy,  and  Xorth  Africa  with  devastating  swarms  of 
Goths,  Huns,  and  Vandals,  would  spare  their  own  territories. 
Ah-eady  Goth,  Arab,  Mogul,  Tartar,  Persian,  and  Turk  seemed 
to  lift  in  observation  their  crested  heads  all  along  the  shore  line 
of  the  Greek  empire,  some  close  at  hand,  others  discerned,  but  not 
discriminated,  by  the  far-seeing  eye  of  prophetic  fear.     How,  then, 
should  the  rulers  venture  to  take  any  steps  wliich  would  tend  to 
weaken  the  allegiance  of  their  own  subjects  ?     Here  stands  dis- 
closed one  of  the  greatest  evils  resulting  from  the  unblessed  con- 
junction of  Church  and  State.     See!  Kisibis  and  Edessa  already 
cower  before  the  uplifted  sword  of  the  Persian  :  therefore,  heretics 
must  not  be  affronted  by  censure,  lest  the  empire  should  be  de- 
spoiled of  her  defenders  !     Even  I'ulcheria  and  Marcian,  staimch 
to  the  core,  hardly  dare  to  authorize  the  meeting  of  a  much- 
needed  synod,  and  stand  undecided.     However,  in  the  sanguine 
hope  that  the  contending  parties  may  be  reconciled  by  a  confer- 
ence, and  so  the  forces  of  the   empire   compacted  rather  than 
weakened,  thcv  vield  to  the  solicitations  of  Leo  so  far  as  to  con- 
voke  a  General  Council  at  Nice,  in  Bithynia,  to  be  held  in  451. 
The  Eomaii  bishop  had  strongly  urged  that  the  place  of  meeting 
shonld  be  appointed  in  Italy,  but  naturally  could  not  bring  the 
Eastern  emperor  to  concede  this.     The  memories  of  the  First 
General  Council  still  hovering  about  Nice  would,  it  was  imagined, 
pervade  the  atmosphere  with"  a  holy  calm,  sedative  of  the  un- 
governable passions  which  some  were  sure  to  bring  even  to  a 
concourse  of  divines ;  but,  as  soon  as  the  usual  Alexandrian  mob 
appeared  in  the  thoroughfares  of  Nice,  all  such  anticipations  were 
speedily  dissipated,  and  the  air  grew  thick  Avith  the  gathering 
storm.     It  was  apparent  that  the  only  prospect  of  peace  lay  in 
the  direction  of  imperial  supervision,  and  so  the  six  hundred  and 
thirty  prelates  were"  transferred  to  Chalcedon,  which  lay  so  near 
the  metropolis  as  to  be  almost  a  suburb,  and  therefore  afforded 
opportunity  for  the  throne  to  watch  their  proceedings  with  closer 
scrutiny  than  would  have  been  possible  where  distance  prevented 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  CHALCEBON.  201 

speedy  communication.  It  is  a  melancholy  confession  to  make, 
that  a  concourse  of  bishops  needed  the  interposition  of  the  secular 
magistrate  to  restrain  them  from  using  personal  violence  upon  each 
other,  but  the  disgrace  of  such  an  acknowledgment  is  somewhat 
tempered  by  the  reflection  that  this  deterioration  of  the  episcopal 
character  was  due  to  the  interference  of  the  civil  authority  in 
various  ecclesiastical  matters,  and  especially  in  promoting  ecclesi- 
astics of  no  character,  and  in  preventing  the  Church  from  de- 
throning many  a  prelate  whom  nothing  but  that  support  maintained 
in  a  seat  which  he  disgraced. 

The  Church  of  St.  Enphemia  stands  outside  of  the  walls  of 
Chalcedon,  on  an  eminence  overlooking  the  Bosporus  and  com- 
manding a  full  view  of  the  shipping,  warehouses,  towers,  and 
spires  of  Constantinople,  the  distant  picture  being  set  in  a  beauti- 
ful foreground  of  verdant  country  and  well-wooded,  slopes.  In 
the  midst  of  so  striking  and  peaceful  a  scene,  and  within  the 
sacred  precincts  of  that  noble  structure,  both  of  which  are  so 
glowingly  described  by  Evagrius,  assembled  the  members  and 
attendants  of  the  Fourth  Council,  which  was  destined  to  be  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  in  the  annals  of  history.  Besides  those 
who  rightly  occupied  seats  in  the  assembly,  there  were  present 
and  taking  a  prominent  part  in  the  proceedings,  nineteen  of  the 
highest  officers  of  state.  The  excuse  for  their  intrusion  may  have 
been  partly  that  Dioscorus  was  to  be  tried  for  his  conduct  at  the 
last  council,  and  partly  that  the  interests  of  the  public  demanded 
the  restraining  influence  of  their  august  presence ;  but  whatever 
it  was,  we  cannot  repress  a  sigh  because  so  bad  a  precedent  was 
set  at  so  great  a  gathering  of  dignitaries ;  not  that  the  correct- 
ness or  authoritativeness  of  the  decrees  were  in  any  respect  shaken 
by  their  interference,  but  that  color  was  given  for  future  encroach- 
ments and  a  stigma  put  upon  the  Church  as  unable  to  take  care 
of  her  own  afiairs. 

AU  the  patriarchs  were  present  with  the  exception  of  Leo,  who 
had  sent  two  bishops  and  a  presbyter  as  his  delegates.  These 
three,  with  Anatolius  of  Constantinople,  presided.  The  council 
was  by  far  the  largest  as  to  the  number  of  bishops  that  had  yet 
been  gathered,  among  those  at  least  that  are  called  oscumenical. 
The  West,  it  is  true,  was  in  no  condition  to  dispatch  bishops  to 
great  distances  from  their  homes,  the  ravages  of  the  barbarians 
making  the  prospect  of  their  prolonged  absence  one  not  to  be 


202  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

cheerfully  borne  by  their  flocks;  nor  probably  would  it  have 
broken  in  upon  its  old  custom  of  leaving  questions  of  the  faith  to 
be  decided  by  the  Greeks,  even  had  Genseric  not  been  lord  of 
Africa,  nor  Attila  passing  like  a  sirocco  over  the  fau-est  portions 
of  southern  Europe.  Africa  appeared  by  two  bishops  only,  and 
it  is  uncertain  whether  they  were  not  self-delegated. 

The  prompt  action  of  the  Roman  delegation  prevented  the 
patriarch  of  Alexandria  from  taking  the  seat  which  belonged  to 
that  see,  they  demanding  that  he  should  be  brought  before  the 
bar  of  the  house  and  not  be  permitted  to  sit  as  judge,  and  declar- 
ing that  otlierwise  they  must,  in  compliance  with  their  instruc- 
tions, withdraw  from  the  deliberations.  Dioscorus  was  accord- 
ingly, after  some  demur  from  the  imperial  commissioners  and  a 
brief  discussion,  instructed  to  place  himself  in  the  midst  of  the 
house,  as  a  person  under  accusation.  Eusebius  of  Dorylteum  once 
more  entered  the  lists  in  his  accustomed  character,  presaging  per- 
haps that  the  day  had  arrived  which  should  behold  the  tables 
turned  upon  the  party  at  whose  hands  he  had  endured  so  much 
two  years  previousl}^  At  the  joint  request  of  Dioscorus  and 
Eusebius,  the  acts  of  the  former  council  were  passed  in  review 
before  this  assembly,  the  reading  of  them  consuming  the  greater 
part  of  the  day.  Much  excitement  prevailed  throughout  the  session, 
and  burst  forth  in  a  wild  uproar  when  the  commissioners  directed 
that  Theodoret  should  be  admitted,  the  Egyptians  shouting  out 
against  him  fiercely  as  "the  master  of  Nestorius."  Theodoret 
calmly  entered  the  hall  with  the  mild  dignity  which  characterized 
him,  and  advanced  to  the  seat  allotted  him  as  plaintiff.  This 
blow  fell  upon  the  Alexandrians  like  a  tlumderbolt,  though  Dios- 
corus retained  his  presence  of  mind,  and  continued  to  watch  the 
proceedings  with  unabated  vigilance  and  occasionally  check  them 
with  wonted  sharpness.  But  his  adherents  gradually  fell  off,  par- 
ticularly Juvenalis  of  Jerusalem,  who  had  cooperated  with  him  on 
the  former  occasion.  This  patriarch,  with  the  Palestinian  bishops, 
moved  imperceptibly  away  from  the  haughty  prelate,  and  took  up 
a  position  on  the  other  side  of  the  church.  Others  followed  their 
example,  till  Dioscorus  could  only  count  thirteen  supporters,  four 
of  his  own  clergy  having  gone  over.  The  reading  .had  struck 
shame  and  contrition  into  the  deserters'  hearts,  reminding  them 
of  the  artifices  which  had  been  employed,  such  as  those  which  had 
shut  out  the  letter  of  the  Eoraan  bishop  to  Flavian,  and  revealing 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  CRALCEBON.     •  203 

too  plainly  the  malfeasance  of  Dioscorus  and  liis  party  in  falsify- 
ing the  record,  many  passages  of  which  were  discovered  to  be 
arrant  forgeries.  It  was  seen  to  be  only  plain  justice  to  restore 
the  names  of  Flavian  and  Eusebius  to  their  honorable  places  on 
the  church's  rolls,  and  to  pronounce  sentence  of  deposition  upon 
Dioscorus,  Juvenalis,  and  their  assessors  for  having  wickedly  con- 
demned innocent  men.  Eventually,  however,  all  were  pardoned 
as  having  acted  under  constraint,  except  the  leader.  That  arro- 
gant prelate  was  put  under  arrest  to  prevent  his  fleeing  from  Clial- 
cedon,  and,  refusing  to  attend  the  further  sittings  of  the  council, 
was,  after  repeated  summons,  deprived  and  banished. 

The  case  of  Theodoret  yet  remained  undecided.  Although 
Rome  had  pronounced  him  orthodox,  this  deposed  bishop  was 
strongly  suspected  of  still  adhering  to  the  old  Antiochene  heresy. 
"When,  during  the  eighth  session,  his  case  was  separately  examined, 
great  difference  of  sentiment  regarding  him  manifested  itself. 
Courtesy,  not  to  say  justice,  would  seem  to  have  required  that 
he  should  be  permitted  to  explain  himself,  and  his  voice  not  be 
drowned  down  by  the  outcries  of  the  reverend  fathers  when  he 
made  the  attempt  to  elucidate  his  belief.  Finally  the  matter  was 
settled  by  his  distinctly  condemning  Nestorius  and  Nestorianism, 
the  rejection  of  the  term  Theotokos,  and  the  assertion  of  the  double 
personality :  this  declaration  satisfied  the  council,  and  procured 
him  its  voice  in  favor  of  his  reinstatement  in  his  see.  Ibas  was 
also  restored  to  the  see  of  Edessa,  and  thus  these  two  men  were 
temporarily  relieved  from  the  ill  report  under  which  they  had  so 
patiently  labored,  not,  however,  long  to  continue  undisturbed  by 
the  breath  of  calumny. 

The  Council  itself  would  gladly  have  ended  its  toils  when  the 
wrongs  done  by  the  Robber-Synod  had  been  righted.  The  em- 
peror, on  the  other  hand,  desired  that  it  should  not  adjourn  before 
it  had  set  forth  a  clear  and  full  statement  of  doctrine  in  opposition 
to  the  heretical  schools.  While  we  should  rejoice  to  see  the  secu- 
lar power  for  once  exerting  its  influence  to  bring  about  a  measure 
which  must  be  adjudged  in  its  ultimate  fruits  beneficial  to  the 
Church,  we  must  not  forget  to  notice  with  commendation  the 
manifest  reluctance  of  the  great  assemblage  to  dogmatize.  The 
same  spirit  had  shown  itself  beforehand  in  the  raising  of  objec- 
tions against  the  calling  of  a  council,  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
unnecessary,  the  faith  being  already  sufficiently  well  established ; 


204  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

and  after  tlie  sessions  had  begun,  this  repugnance  held  its  own  for 
some  time  against  the  senate's  urgency.  Instead  of  being  eager 
to  exhibit  their  learning  and  skill  in  erecting  new  platforms  and 
devising  additional  formulae,  instead  of  deeming  themselves  com- 
petent to  evolve  out  of  their  own  intellects  infallible  dogmas  for 
the  guidance  of  mankind,  instead  of  supposing  that  the  grace  of 
heavenly  enlightenment  was  so  thoroughly  under  their  own  con- 
trol that  they  had  it  constantly  at  command,  these  men,  deeply 
imbued  with  the  unvarying  sentiment  of  catholic  antiquity,  shrank 
in  diffidence  and  humility  from  a  function  which  they  felt  ex- 
tremely perilous  to  the  individual,  as  feeding  his  pride  if  unneces- 
sarily exercised,  and  to  the  Church,  as  liable  to  contract  her  bound- 
aries within  narroM'er  limits  than  her  blessed  Founder  designed. 
It  was  only  after  considerable  delay  and  much  protestation  that, 
at  the  hi'th  session,  a  declaration  of  fiiith  was  at  last  agreed  upon 
and  submitted  to  the  emperor  for  his  approval.  This  declaration 
explicitly  pronounced  against  Eutychianism.  Eutyches  himself 
went  further,  it  is  supposed,  than  most  of  those  who  professed  to 
believe  in  one  nature  were  prepared  to  accompany  him,  and  did  not 
admit  that  the  human  nature  of  the  Saviour,  before  its  union  with 
the  divine,  was  consubstantial  with  ours,  but  taught  that,  like  the 
celebrated  image  of  the  Ephesian  Diana,  it  had  descended  from 
heaven.  This  heresy  (which  Eutyches  himself  may  have  held)  the 
unanimous  sentiment  spontaneously  reprobated ;  so  that  an  ex- 
pression to  that  effect,  couched  in  the  affirmation  that  Christ  is 
"of  two  natures,"  would  have  met  with  small  opposition,  because 
it  would  have  been  understood  to  imply  only  that  there  were  two 
natures  before  the  conjunction  took  place.  As  many  persons  con- 
ceded this  who  yet  denied  that  the  two  natures  remained  after 
that  event,  as  Flavian  had  been  deposed  for  attacking  this  last 
theory,  and  as  Leo's  femous  "  Tome  "  contained  a  similar  assault, 
it  was  obviously  requisite  that  the  declaration  of  the  Fourth  (Ecu- 
menical Council  should  not  stop  short  of  Leo's  and  Flavian's  asser- 
tion that  Christ  exists  "m  two  natures,"  unless,  indeed,  it  meant 
to  retract  its  recent  action  in  deposing  Dioscorus,  hopelessly  offend 
the  whole  Latin  Church,  and  surrender  the  doctrine  of  the  Media- 
torship.  The  necessity  of  dehnitely  pronouncing  in  favor  of  the 
words  "  in  two  natures  "  was  indeed  so  plain  that  opposition  was 
linallv  oblio-ed  to  retire  before  the  face  of  a  decree  to  that  effect. 
The  discussions  upon  this  question  involved  the  much-mooted 


•u 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  CHALCEDON.  205 

point  of  Cyrirs  orthodoxy,  be  having  frequently  used  language 
which  looked  towards  the  belief  in  one  nature.     In  regard  to  tins 
matter,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  persons  unused  to  abstract 
thinking  encounter  no  small  difficulty  in  accurately  distinguishing 
between  the  ideas  of  nature  and  i^erson,  and  that  the  very  best 
thinkers  and  most  careful  speakers  and  writers  often  use  those 
words  interchangeably.     Nature  has  both  a  broader  and  a  nar- 
rower significance;    the  narrower   and   more   exact   designating 
mere  qualities  and  characteristics,  and  the  higher  and  broader  in- 
cluding the  abstract  something  to  which  these  belong.     Above 
this  second  meaning  is  a  less  common  one,  which  embraces  not 
only  the  thing,  but  the  person  also:  a  usage  which  is  figurative, 
but  not  wholly  improper.     Thus,  when  we  say,  It  is  the  nature 
of  man  to  rebel  against  oppression^  we  select  a  particular  quality 
and  call  that  his  nature;  but  when  we  compare  him  with  the 
brute,  and  say  that  his  lower  nature  is  similar  to  that  of  the  horse 
or  the  anthropoid  ape,  we  no  longer  dwell  upon  one  feature,  but 
have  gathered  up  a  number  into  a  congeries,  and  conferred  them  all 
upon  a  something  to  which  we  give  the  name  mentioned  above, 
and  of  which  we  believe  in  the  positive,  or  only  in  the  ideal,  exist- 
ence, according  as  we  are  realists  or  nominalists.     Should  we  rise 
another  step,  and  say.  Human  nature  cried  out  against  the  wrong, 
we  may  be  employing  the  rhetorical  figure  called  metonymy,  but 
are  certainly  attributing  a  very  decided  personality  to  nature. 
The  vulgar  understanding  does  not  easily  separate  the  diff'erent 
natures  of  which  the  human  being  is  composed,  but  is  strongly 
disposed  to  look  upon  him  as  possessed  of  one  compounded,  but  in- 
dissolvable,  nature  as  much  a  unit  as  is  his  individuality.    Strangely 
oblivious  of  the  perpetual  contest  which  rages  in  each  between  the 
higher  inclinations  and  those  that  draw  their  inspiration  from  the 
animal,  and  bears  continuous  witness  to  the  existence  of  two  distinct 
natures  no  further  fused  than  as  the  one  has  been  contaminated 
by  contact  with  the  other,  and  debased  by  voluntary  subjection  to 
it,  the  multitude  are  hardly  to  be  weaned  from  the  notion  of  a 
single  nature  in  man  even  by  the  power  and  beauty  of  their  faith 
in  the  continued  life  of  the  one  while  the  other  has  been  extin- 
guished by  death.     The  two  ideas  being  thus  closely  interwoven 
in  the  popular  comprehension,  it  is  evident  that  many  may  have 
been  seeming  Eutychians  when  they  were  really  orthodox,  and 
that,  in  arguments  and  exhortations  directed  against  Kestorianism, 


206  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

the  most  correct  and  profound  thinkers,  especially  before  the  rise 
of  the  later  heresy,  might  employ  without  blame  language  which, 
looked  at  from  another  standpoint,  would  lay  its  authors  open  to 
severe  criticism. 

Was  it  not,  then,  a  great  mistake,  of  which  this  council  may 
be  justly  accused,  to  have  forced  upon  the  unlearned  and  simple- 
minded  dogmas  too  abstruse  for  their  limited  capacities  and  meagre 
attainments,  and  thus  to  have  needlessly  expelled  from  the  Church 
multitudes  who  would  otherwise  have  been  her  loyal  children  to 
the  end,  and  died  iu  the  full  communion  of  saints?  "\Ve  may 
lament  the  loss  to  the  Catholic  Church  of  the  Monophysite  myriads 
who  refused  to  accept  the  decrees  of  Chalcedon,  as  we  must  deplore 
the  departure  from  her  fold  of  those  sectaries  who  won  such  brill- 
iant victories  for  Christianity  according  to  Nestorius  ;  and  we  may 
without  treason  even  venture  to  suggest  that  wiser  measures 
might  have  been  devised  which  would  have  retained  millions 
M'ithin  the  sentry-lines  of  the  true  Israel;  but  we  must  not  forget 
that  the  rise  of  such  disturbances  was  predicted,  and  the  definite 
reason  stated  to  be  in  order  that  it  might  be  made  manifest  who 
were  true  and  staunch  and  who  were  not.  As  far  as  the  Faith 
was  concerned,  the  Church  was  under  most  awful  responsibility 
to  defend  it  from  all  innovation.  What  would  have  become  of 
that  Faith  had  the  doctrine  of  a  single  nature  prevailed,  has  already 
been  sufficiently  shown.  The  blame  of  the  secession  rests  upon 
Eutyches,  Dioscorus,  and  Constantine  the  Great;  on  Eutyches  for 
teaching  heresy,  upon  Dioscorus  for  supporting  him  with  the  arts 
of  a  politician  and  the  violence  of  a  highwayman ;  and  upon  the 
emperor  for  usurping  prerogatives  which  ought  not  to  have  been 
his,  and  thus  transmitting  to  his  successors  the  power  of  troubling 
the  Church.  Shall  we  blame  a  parent  for  disturbing  the  peace  of 
the  household  because  he  enforces  discipline  ?  It  is  the  undutiful 
child,  not  the  father,  who  is  blamable  for  the  necessary  infliction 
of  punishment.  Simplicity  of  belief  is  eminently  desirable,  per- 
haps, but  how  can  simplicity  be  maintained  where  the  other  party 
insists  upon  resorting  to  sophistry  ?  Besides,  what  is  so  very 
abstruse,  metaphysical,  and  difficult  about  the  faith  enunciated  by 
Ephesus  and  Chalcedon  ?  The  proofs  and  arguments  may  be  rec- 
ondite and  psychological  enough,  but  common  people  were  never 
asked  to  enter  upon  their  examination.  What  is  exacted  from 
the  populace  is  the  belief  that  Christ,  having  always  been  perfect 


TEE  COUNCIL  OF  CHALCEDON.  207 

God,  of  one  substance  with  the  Father,  took  upon  Him  the  body 
and  soul  and  spirit,  not  of  any  individual,  preexistent  man,  but  of 
humanity  at  large,  and  thus  became  a  perfect  man,  of  one  sub- 
stance with  John  or  Peter,  uniting  in  his  own  individuality  two 
natures,  which  retained  all  their  characteristics  of  power  or  weak- 
ness, and  remained  as  perfect  and  distinct  in  all  paiticulars  as  they 
were  before  their  union  in  His  single  personality.  Is  this  doctrine, 
indeed,  so  far  removed  from  ordinary  life,  so  high-elevated  above  the 
plane  of  common  cogitation,  that  a  twelve-year-old  child  of  aver- 
age sense  cannot  be  made  to  understand  it  ?  If  the  Egyptians,  for 
example,  still  vociferated  that  Christ  was  in  one  nature,  instead 
of  adopting  the  formula  of  Leo's  Tome,  why  did  they  maintain 
such  resistance  ?  Because  party-spirit  prohibited  them  from  coin- 
ciding with  the  Bithynians  and  Thracians,  because  pride  forbade 
their  receding  from  a  position  they  had  once  taken,  and  because 
their  contentiousness  and  stubbornness  had  incensed  the  Lord  to 
such  a  degree  that  He  had  punished  them  with  spiritual  blindness, 
and  allowed  the  truth  to  become  obscured  from  their  eyes. 

The  decree  of  faith  gave  emphatic  utterance  to  the  conserv- 
atism of  the  Church,  for  it  went  away  back  to  the  Creed  of  the 
three  hundred  and  eighteen  Fathers  and  reaffirmed  it,  loyally 
accepted  the  improved  formula  of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty 
Fathers,  and,  having  thus  protested  against  innovation,  came 
down  to  the  more  recent  oecumenical  synod,  and  confirmed  its 
decision  in  favor  of  the  term  Theotokos,  and  lastly,  adopted  the 
celebrated  letter  to  Flavian  as  a  wise  and  able  exposition  of  those 
points  of  doctrine  which  needed  to  be  defended  against  both  ISTes- 
torianism  and  Eutychianism,  and  as  worthy  of  being  lifted  above 
the  status  of  a  mere  bishop's  circular  letter,  and  stamped  with 
the  authoritative  sanction  of  a  general  council.  This  decree  hav- 
ing been  approved  by  the  emperor  in  a  speech  made  on  the  occa- 
sion of  his  appearance,  together  with  Pulcheria,  at  the  sixth  session, 
it  was  subscribed  by  the  bishops,  and  eventually  ratified  by  the 
Church  at  large,  so  becoming  a  fourth  bulwark  of  the  faith. 

If  Chalcedon  was  oecumenical,  it  is  hard  to  escape  the  conclu- 
sion that  ISTicsea,  Constantinople,  and  Ephesus  were  so  too.  The 
anthoritativeness  of  those  three  great  assemblies  of  Christian 
bishops  was  assumed  through  all  its  deliberations,  as  well  as  im- 
plied in  its  decree  of  faith.  That  Chalcedon  was  oecumenical, 
who  can  doubt  ?     The  gathering  was  large  enough  to  embrace 


208  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

sufficient  learning,  talent,  and  fidelity,  if  six  hundred  and  thirty 
leading  divines  were  not  too  few  to  secure  those  qualities ;  it  was 
not  sectional,  for  the  West  was  represented  by  the  delegates  from 
Rome  (three,  four,  or  five  in  number,  according  to  difierent  au- 
thorities), who  certainly  exercised  considerable  influence  over  its 
deliberations,  and  was  also  permitted  to  speak  very  distinctly 
through  the  remarkable  letter  of  the  Latin  patriarch  ;  and  its  de- 
crees were  afterwards, — not,  it  is  however  true,  without  prolonged 
and  bitter  controversy, — accepted  by  Christendom.  It  is  an  advan- 
tage sometimes  to  be  able  to  concentrate  our  attention  upon  a 
small  field  of  historv,  verv  much  as  it  is  to  the  naturalist  to  direct 
his  eye  upon  the  extremely  minute  object  that  lies  at  the  focus  of 
his  powerful  magnifier.  Such  scrutiny  may  bring  to  sight  imper- 
fections that  are  not  pleasant  to  contemplate ;  but  it  also  discloses 
unsuspected  and  marvelous  beauties,  and  aftbrds  that  insight  into 
the  nature  of  things  which  is  so  grateful  to  the  active  intelligence. 
In  Chalcedon,  then,  let  those  who  are  interested  in  the  subject  of 
a  dogmatic  faith  be  assured  that  they  will  find  what  will  more 
than  repay  them  for  the  labor  of  study.  Had  each  council  stood, 
as  it  were,  alone,  not  alluding  in  any  way  to  its  predecessors,  not 
only  would  such  reticence  have  cast  grave  suspicion  upon  the  cor- 
rectness of  our  theory,  but  the  work  of  searching  for  the  proofs 
of  its  general  acce]>tance  by  the  Church  would  have  spread  itself 
over  great  space.  We  have  Chalcedon  to  thank  for  simplifying 
the  labor  of  investigation  by  narrowing  it  do\vn  in  the  way  that 
has  been  pointed  out.  To  the  patient  student,  wearied  and  dis- 
tracted with  examining  records  and  brooding  over  religious  con- 
tests, how  pleasant  to  arrive  at  a  stage  that  invites  him  to  rest 
and  survey  from  an  admirable  outlook  the  ground  over  which  he 
has  plodded,  and  feel  his  glowing  cheeks  fanned  by  the  renovating 
breeze !  For  one  who  has  been  putting  a  nmch-contested  theory 
to  the  severest  practicable  tests,  and  has  not  yet  succeeded  in 
entirely  satisfying  himself  that  it  endures  them,  what  a  relief  to 
become  suddenly  conscious  that  his  theory  is,  after  all,  really  the 
one  which  lies  deep  in  the  minds  of  all  competent  judges !  The 
devout  explorer,  who  has  been  forcing  his  toilsome  way  through 
the  numberless  obstructions  which  time,  unbelief,  and  error  have 
strewn  along  the  channel  leading  to  Catholic  Truth,  arrives  in 
his  downward  course  upon  the  current  of  history  at  the  Fourth 
Council,  his  bark  being  nearly  ready  to  founder  by  reason  of  the 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  CHALCEDON.  £09 

injuries  done  upon  her  hull,  and  lo !  he  discovers  that  the  now- 
deserted  water-waj  was  once  thronged  with  goodlj  vessels,  and 
takes  heart  to  hope  that  the  pennants  of  many  navies  will  again 
f  oat  upon  its  breezes.  Who  does  not  see  that  the  whole  heart 
of  the  Church  was,  in  451,  filled  with  reverence  for  antiquity,  and 
with  respect  for  the  decisions  of  such  councils  as  were  acknowl- 
edged to  have  been  oecumenical  ?  Divided  as  men  might  be  upon 
points  then  under  discussion,  in  these  feelings  they  were  a  unit. 
Dioscorus  and  Theodoret,  Marcian,  Pulcheria,  and  Leo,  monks, 
parabolani,  soldiers,  sailors,  and  common  people,  all  were  ready  to 
raise  an  outcry,  or  lift  the  strong  hand,  against  any  one  who  should 
impugn  Nice,  Constantinople,  or  Ephesus.  Knowing  as  well  as 
ive  can  the  character  of  those  assemblies,  and  scarcely  yet  recovered 
from  the  shock  of  the  Latrocinium,  they  do  not  pour  contempt 
upon  the  idea  that  such  gatherings  can  speak  with  any  authorita- 
tiveness ;  they  do  not  ridicule  them  as  meetings  of  garrulous  old 
women,  or  as  mobs  of  riotous  and  drunken  pirates;  nor  do  they 
proclaim  with  trumpet-cry  the  extraordinaiy  theory  that  every  boor 
is  competent  to  fabricate  his  ovm  theology,  but  with  the  homage 
of  loyal  hearts  all  bow  before  the  ratified  decrees  of  the  three 
councils  as  being  sanctioned  by  the  very  Spirit  of  truth. 

In  authoritatively  delivering  its  witness  to  the  full  doctrine  of 
the  Hypostatical  Union,  Chalcedon  put  the  last  abutment  to  the 
great  arch  of  the  Incarnation,  upon  which  rests  the  only  bridge 
that  leads  the  sinner  back  to  his  heavenly  Father.  At  Nice,  it 
had  been  declared  that  the  Son  of  God  is  of  the  same  essence  or 
substance  with  His  Father;  and  at  Constantinople  had  been 
rescued  from  attack  the  integrity  of  His  manhood.  These  two 
councils  having  thus  prepared,  if  we  may  so  speak  without  ir- 
reverence, the  materials  that  were  to  be  theoreticallv  fabricated 
into  the  God-man,  our  adorable  Redeemer,  it  remained  to  be  de- 
termined whether  the  Divinity,  consubstantial  with  that  of  the 
Father,  and  the  humanity,  consubstantial  with  ordinaiy  humanity, 
were  really  united  in  Him,  and  if  so,  whether  they  were  com- 
mingled, or  were  preserved  distinct?  At  Ephesus,  came  up  the 
first  question,  it  being  promptly  decided  in  favor  of  a  thorough 
personal  union :  so,  there  was  left  for  Chalcedon  only  to  protect 
the  two  natures,  admitted  to  have  been  perfectly  divine  and  per- 
fectly human,  respectively,  before  the  conjunction,  from  being 
absorbed  the  one  into  the  other,  and  so  utterly  lost,  or  fused  into 


210  THE  CHURCH  AND   TEE  FAITH. 

a  third  somewhat  not  God,  nor  man,  nor  both.  When  the  Fourth 
Council  had  signalized  its  sixth  session  by  decreeing  in  favor 
of  the  continued  and  absolute  distinctness  of  the  two  natures, 
nothing  more  was  needed  for  the  full  determination  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  two  hypostases^  or  natures, were  joined.  From  the 
date  of  that  decree,  or,  we  will  say,  from  the  period  when  it  was 
ratified  by  the  common  consent  of  the  Church  Catholic,  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Hypostatical  Union  was  one  de  fide.  The  Church 
cannot,  it  is  true,  compel  men  to  believe  what  they  are  resolute 
in  rejecting,  but  loyal  to  the  Lord  who  died  for  her,  she  has  done 
what  she  could,  first,  to  shield  His  divinity  from  insult,  and  then 
to  defend  from  outrage  the  glorious  doctrine  of  the  Atonement. 

Chalcedon  invites  another  reflection.  What  but  the  guidance 
of  the  Eternal  Spirit  could  ever  have  made  the  needle  point  so 
true  in  the  midst  of  so  many  disturbing  causes?  See  the  mutual 
relations  of  Nestorianism  and  Eutychianism.  ITow  natural  it  is 
to  sweep  around  from  the  repelling  error  of  two  persons  into  the 
opposite  error  of  one  nature,  or,  if  driven  away  from  the  latter, 
to  circle  around  to  the  former !  Yet  the  Church  displays  no 
such  tendency.  Hers  is  not  the  strength  that  merely  suffices  to 
repulse  the  foe,  and  itself  suffers  from  the  force  of  reaction,  but  that 
imperturbable  might  which  hurls  the  assailant  back  and  is  scarcely 
sensible  of  effort.  Calmly  confident  in  the  impregnability  of  the 
position  in  which  her  God  has  placed  her,  she  moves  not  from  it 
whether  Arius  or  Apollinarius,  Nestorius  or  Eutyches  comes 
against  her.  She  merely  lifts  a  hand  of  warning  and  exclusion 
before  the  intruder,  and  undisturbed,  unperplexed,  and  unintimi- 
dated  passes  a  new  watchword  to  her  children,  so  that  they  may 
know  how  to  distinguish  each  other  from  the  erring  progeny  of 
heresv. 

There  was,  however,  much  in  the  conduct  of  the  Chalcedonian 
fathers  that  we  could  wish  to  have  been  otherwise.  Especially, 
perhaps,  were  they  deficient  in  the  conciliatory  spirit,  forgetting 
in  their  zeal  for  orthodoxy  to  cultivate  the  grace  of  gentleness. 
Animosities  were  not  allayed.  The  Alexandrians,  in  particular, 
retui-ned  to  their  homes  chafing  under  a  sense  of  defeat  and 
burning  to  revenge  themselves  upon  their  ancient  rivals.  Dios- 
corus  was  an  exile  in  Paphlagonia.  His  successor,  Proterius,  was 
a  Catholic,  but  was  opposed  by  a  faction  comprising  perhaps  the 
more  numerous  and  influential  section  of  his  flock,  awed  at  first  by 


TEE  COUNCIL  OF  CHALCEDON.  211 

the  severity  of  Marcian,  but  ready  to  rise  in  insurrection  at  the 
earliest  opportunity.  Just  as  soon  as  the  repressive  force  of  the 
military  arm  was  removed  by  the  death  of  that  emperor,  Timothy 
.:Elurus  (the  Cat)  was  installed  by  a  mob,  and  Proterius  murdered 
with  circumstances  of  great  savageness  and  indignity.  The  claws 
of  this  usurper  were  torn  from  their  feline  hold  by  an  edict  of  the 
emperor  Leo,  and  another  Timothy  (surnamed  Salophaciolus)  con- 
secrated in  his  place.  This  fortunate  choice  secured  fifteen  years 
of  quiet  and  prosperity  to  the  troubled  see,  until  the  seizure  of 
the  imperial  throne  by  Basiliscus,  a  Monophysite,  brought  back 
^lurus  from  Cherson,  whither  he  had  been  banished.  Soon  after 
the  restoration  of  Zeno,  whom  Basiliscus  had  driven  from  his 
throne,  the  heretical  Timothy  died,  and  Peter  Mongus  was  irregu- 
larly elevated  in  his  place,  only  to  be  immediately  deposed  in 
order  to  make  way  for  the  return  of  Salophaciolus.  John  Talaia, 
who  soon  succeeded  tliis  Timoth}^,  was  ejected,  for  reasons  of  his 
own,  by  Zeno :  whereupon  he  threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  the 
Roman  patriarch.  Peter  the  Hoarse  (Mongus)  pitched  his  voice 
to  the  key  of  deception,  and  was  suffered  to  take  possession  of  the 
episcopal  staif.  By  accepting  the  Henoticon,  this  man  gained  the 
Catholics  and  alienated  large  numbers  of  his  own  adherents,  who 
received  the  name  of  Acephali,  or  the  Headless,  from  having  lost 
their  leader.  These  strifes  continued  to  rend  the  Alexandrian 
church  and  sometimes  to  stain  the  pavements  with  human  blood, 
until  the  horror  reached  the  climax,  as  it  is  said,  of  flooding  the 
gutters  with  the  gore  of  two  hundred  thousand  souls  slain  at  the 
installation  of  Apollinarius. 

Palestine  was  the  seat  of  similar  disturbances,  Juvenalis,  upon 
his  return  from  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  being  shut  out  for  two 
years  from  the  see  for  which  he  had  just  obtained  the  grant  of  the 
patriai'chal  dignity,  by  a  seditious  monk,  named  Theodosius,  whom 
he  found  in  possession  and  sustained  by  the  influence  of  Eudocia, 
the  widow  of  Theodosius  II.  Antioch  was  also  subject  to  agi- 
tations, one  noted  patriarch,  the  contemporary  of  Peter  Mongus, 
being  expelled  and  restored  several  times.  This  man  also  was 
named  Peter,  and  was  distinguished  by  an  epithet  which  recalled 
the  occupation  he  had  followed  while  a  monk,  Fullo,  or  the  Fuller. 
The  entire  Eastern  Church,  indeed,  rocked  from  side  to  side  be- 
neath the  gales  which,  from  time  to  time,  rushed  down  upon  it. 

Three  incidents  of  the  weary  contest   may  be  selected   for 


212  THE  CHURCH  AXD   THE  FAITH. 

remark.  In  457  the  emperor  Leo,  desirous  of  reconciling  the 
various  parties,  had  recourse  to  an  expedient  which  furnishes  us 
with  clear  and  incontrovertible  proof  that  the  decisions  of  Chal- 
cedon  were  approved  by  the  great  mass  of  Christians  in  the  com- 
munion of  the  Catholic  Church.  lie  sent  to  all  the  bishops  in 
the  various  provinces,  and  to  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
monks,  a  letter  missive  enjoining  them  to  give  their  opinions  in 
regard  to  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  and  the  claims  of  the  usurping 
Timothy  of  Alexandria.  We  are  told  that  the  replies  unani- 
mously condemned  ^lurus  and  approved  the  council.  The  quali- 
fication is  added,  however,  that  some  Pamj)liylian  bishops  regret- 
ted that  the  assembly  had  thought  it  necessary  to  insist  upon  the 
definitions  of  the  hypostatical  union  as  terms  of  communion. 
We  see,  then,  that  in  the  sixth  year  after  the  holding  of  the 
Fourth  Council,  although  a  few  doubted  the  wisdom  of  setting 
forth  the  decree  of  faith  which  it  issued,  all  the  bishops  of  the 
Greek  empire,  from  the  midst  of  tlieir  people,  as  it  were,  and  sur- 
rounded by  their  presbyters  and  deacons,  pronounced  without 
hesitation  in  favor  of  the  correctness  of  that  decree ;  as  did  also 
the  bishop  of  Rome.  The  only  method  of  destroj'ing  the  con- 
clusiveness of  this  proof  would  seem  to  be  that  of  showing  that 
some  of  the  responses  were  given  under  coercion.  Under  all  the 
circumstances,  it  is  not  easy  to  count  Egypt  on  the  side  of  the 
council,  the  opposition  to  it  there  continuing  all  along  so  incessant 
and  so  violent,  that  great  suspicion  must  attend  any  momentary 
departure  from  such  a  course  of  antagonism.  But  let  those  who 
require  absohite  unanimity  for  the  sanctioning  of  a  conciliar  de- 
cree, concern  themselves  about  this  matter.  As  for  ourselves, 
liaving  adopted  a  theory  which  is  ready  to  content  itself  with  a 
marked  preponderance  of  testimony  in  favor  of  the  decree,  we 
may  drop  a  tear  over  the  ecclesiastical  grave  of  Alexandrian 
orthodoxy,  but  are  in  no  mood  to  weep  as  though  we  had  buried 
the  Catholic  Faith  along  with  it. 

When  the  cowardice  of  the  abandoned  Zeno  hurried  him  away 
into  the  fastnesses  of  mountainous  Isauria,  Basiliscus  made  his 
brief  usurpation  memorable  in  ecclesiastical  annals,  by  presuming 
to  issue  a  circular  letter  virtually  pronouncing  upon  questions  of 
the  faith.  This  commanded  all  who  received  it  to  attach  their 
signatures  to  the  document  in  token  that  they  condemned  the 
council  of  Chalcedon,  and,  announcing  severe  penalties  against  all 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  CHALCEDON.  213 

who  should  neglect  to  obey,  obtained  the  sanction  of  so  many 
names  that  we  are  compelled  to  blush  for  the  episcopate  of  the 
epoch.  The  subsequent  act  of  the  same  weak  prince  in  issuing  a 
counter-circular,  as  soon  as  rumor  threatened  his  throne  and  life, 
might  have  warned  a  more  prudent  monarch  than  Zeno  to  refrain 
from  following  a  precedent  which  had  so  doubtful  an  origin ;  but 
he  chose  to  imitate  the  example  rather  than  heed  the  admonition, 
and  accordingly  sent  out  a  letter  which  was  intended  to  effect  a 
compromise  between  the  contending  parties,  and  was  thence 
called  a  Henoticon.  The  substance  of  it  was  that  the  faith  of 
Chalcedon  should  be  accepted,  but  the  council  itself  ignored,  the 
supposition  on  which  it  proceeded  being  that  the  virulent  opposi- 
tion was  pointed,  not  at  the  decree  of  faith,  but  at  the  synod  itself 
on  account  of  other  measures  which  had  received  its  sanction. 
This  idea,  doubtless,  was  in  a  measure  correct,  and  very  likely  it 
was  further  true  that  multitudes  of  those  who  called  themselves 
Monophysites  were  so  only  in  name,  being  thorougldy  catholic  at 
heart ;  but  definitions  of  doctrine  cannot  be  lightly  tossed  away 
because  some  who  object  to  them  are  well-meaning  persons  led 
away  b}'  strong  prejudices,  nor  can  the  authority  of  a  solemn 
council  be  given  up  on  a  similar  pretext.  At  first  the  new  move- 
ment promised  well.  Peter  Mongus  signed  it  and  was  confirmed 
in  the  see  of  Alexandria,  and  Peter  Fullo  of  Antioch  also  con- 
sented to  it ;  both  of  whom  had  been  pronounced  Eutychians,  and 
probably  remained  so.  This  was  in  the  year  482.  Acacius  of 
Constantinople  at  once  admitted  Mongus  into  communion,  and 
thereby  drew  down  upon  himself  the  just  indignation  of  the 
Koman  patriarch,  who  had  the  double  motive  for  interfering  that 
John  Talaia,  the  expelled  bishop  of  Alexandria,  was  personally 
pressing  his  suit  upon  him,  and  that  the  Constantinopolitan  had 
thus  not  only  rejected  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  but  to  some 
extent,  as  he  was  likely  to  think,  treated  with  indignity  the 
Tome  of  Leo.  Possibly  emboldened  by  the  victories  which  had 
established  the  barbarian,  Odoacer,  upon  the  throne  of  Italy, 
Felix  III.  and  a  Roman  synod  deposed  Acacius,  excommunicated 
him,  and  wrote  accordingly  to  the  Eastern  emperor.  As  the 
patriarch  replied  by  removing  the  name  of  Felix  from  the  dip- 
tych s,  the  result  of  the  attempt  at  reconciliation  was  that  the 
Henoticon  created  a  schism  between  the  two  great  sections  of  the 
church,  which  lasted  from  484  to  519. 


214  TEE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

It  is  not  to  be  imagined  that  Eutychianism  had  really  con- 
quered at  Constantinople,  a  consummation  that  was  precluded  by 
the  ancient  rivalry  of  the  Bosporus  and  the  Nile,  if  by  nothing 
else.  Felix  had  a  strong  party  there,  particularly  among  the 
monks.  Some  of  the  successors  of  Acacius  were  themselves  in- 
clined that  way.  At  last  Justin  came  into  power,  supported  by 
two  ministers  who  were  warm  friends  to  Chalcedon,  Vitalian  and 
the  future  emperor  Justinian.  The  breach  was  thereupon  healed 
at  the  instigation  of  the  populace,  who  demanded  from  John,  the 
new  prelate,  upon  occasion  of  his  first  public  appearance,  the 
recognition  of  Chalcedon,  the  condemnation  of  Eutyches,  Euty- 
chians,  and  Eutychianism,  root  and  branch,  and  a  return  to  fel- 
lowship with  old  Rome.  Upon  the  Eoman  patriarch  Hormisdas's 
receding  a  little  from  his  primary  demands,  the  broken  harmony 
was  restored,  and  the  Ilenoticon  vanished  from  the  scene. 

The  Eutychians  after  the  council  of  Chalcedon  were  generally 
called  by  the  name  of  Monophj'sitcs,  inasmuch  as  they  had  dis- 
owned to  a  great  extent  the  heresiarch  from  whom  they  drew 
their  being.  In  course  of  time  they  were  divided  up  into  a  num- 
ber of  difterent  sects,  some  of  them  distinguished  by  very  shadowy 
lines  of  separation.  One  of  the  most  famous  disputed  about  the 
corruptibility  of  our  Sa\dour'8  body,  claiming  that  it  was  naturally 
exempt  from  the  weaknesses  of  ordinary  flesh  and  submitted  to 
them  voluntarily.  The  energy  and  wisdom  of  a  great  mind  are 
needed  to  organize  victoiw  for  a  sect  as  well  as  for  a  people.  Such 
a  leader  Avas  given  the  Monophysites  in  the  person  of  Jacob  Bara- 
daeus,  a  Syrian  monk,  who,  after  traveling  with  amazing  zeal  and 
perseverance  over  vast  regions,  died  in  578  at  Edessa,  leaving  be- 
hind him,  for  an  enduring  monument,  well-established  and  flour- 
ishing churches  of  the  sect  in  Syria,  Mesopotamia,  Armenia,  Egypt, 
Nubia,  Abyssinia,  and  other  countries,  and  having  so  thoroughly 
stamped  his  impress  upon  the  denomination  that  it  has  since  be- 
come known  by  the  name  oi  Jacobites.  Although  the  missionary 
enterprises  of  the  Jacobites  never  vied  with  those  of  the  Nestorians 
in  point  of  universality  and  success,  they  were  far  from  being  dis- 
creditable. Armenia,  the  scene  on  which  appeared  the  disciples 
of  Julian  of  Halicarnassus,  soon  after  he  had  given  birth  to  the 
heresy  of  the  Incorruptibilists,  and  Abyssinia,  whither  Alexan- 
drian Monophysitism  early  penetrated,  became  distinguished  as 
strongholds  of  the  sect.     In  later  times,  while  the  numbers  of  the 


TEE  COUNCIL  OF  CHALCEBON.  215 

Jacobites  have  dwindled  into  comparative  insignificance,  while 
their  influence  has  decreased  almost  to  the  point  of  extinction,  and 
then-  Christianity  become  scarcely  preferable  in  respect  of  morality 
to  the  paganism  or  Mahommedanism  by  which  they  are  sur- 
rounded, they  still  raise  in  the  East  the  banner  of  opposition  to 
Chalcedon  and  profess  a  belief  in  the  one  nature  of  Christ. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  SECOND  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE. 

The  four  general  councils  of  -which  we  have  been  treating, 
having  each  pronounced  upon  one  or  more  cardinal  doctrines, 
together  presented  to  the  world  a  well-rounded  system  of  faith, 
and  one  so  complete  as  seemingly  to  leave  little  of  vital  impor- 
tance to  be  determined  by  any  future  assembly.  The  dogmas 
concerning  the  Consubstantiality  and  the  Ilypostatical  Union  had 
displayed  the  truth  respecting  the  Incarnation  in  so  clear  a  light 
to  the  inquiring  and  reverential  mind,  that  no  one  need  any  longer 
be  in  duubt  as  to  what  he  ought  to  believe  in  regard  to  God  the 
Son,  or  as  to  the  propriety  of  worshiping  Him :  let  skeptics  ad- 
vance what  arguments  they  chose,  these  dogmas  opposed  to  them 
an  impregnable  barrier.  When  the  reconciliation  with  Ilormis- 
das  effected  by  John  and  his  successor,  Epiphanius,  closed  the 
schism  between  Rome  and  Constantinople,  and  affixed  the  seal  of 
general  ratification  to  the  resolutions  of  the  six  hundred  and  thirty 
fathers,  then  it  had  been  clearly  defined  by  the  highest  authority 
that  there  exist  in  Christ  two  natures,  one  consubstantial  in  the 
strictest  sense  with  that  of  God  the  Father,  the  other  consubstan- 
tial in  a  less  proper  sense  with  that  of  ordinary  humanity ;  the 
one  perfect  God,  the  other  perfect  man,  with  all  the  parts,  body, 
soul,  and  spirit,  which  belong  to  humanity ;  and  these  two  na- 
tures, remaining  utterly  distinct  and  separate  after  the  conjunction, 
without  either  absorption  or  fusion,  the  divine  still  perfectly  divine, 
and  the  human  still  perfectly  human,  the  foi-mer  not  being  deprived 
by  the  union  of  a  single  divine  attribute  in  the  most  infinitesimal 
degree,  nor  the  latter  endowed  with  the  smallest  imaginable  portion 
of  a  superhuman  quality;  and  yet  united,  not  by  affinity,  nor  alli- 
ance, nor  courtesy,  but  by  the  one  inseverable  bond  of  individuality, 
which  constituted  a  single  person  at  once  finite  and  infinite,  weak 
and  almighty,  limited  in  knowledge  and  omniscient,  eternal  and 


THE  SECOND  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  217 

born  in  time,  incapable  of  feeling  pain  and  susceptible  of  the 
keenest  torture,  Lord  of  life  and  mortal ;  which  enabled  the  all- 
glorious  Son  of  the  Most  High  to  shed  His  blood  for  the  sinful 
race  of  Adam,  and  then  to  stand  their  triumphant  advocate  before 
the  Father ;  and  will  fit  Him  to  come  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  as 
the  judge  of  the  world,  awful,  compassionate,  and  infallible. 
Surely,  it  seems  as  though  controversy  might  have  stopped  at  this 
point.  Heretics  could  scarcely  hope  to  surprise  the  Church  any 
longer,  for  what  could  they  suggest  that  was  erroneous  concerning 
the  Son  of  Man  which  had  not  been  already  fully  answered? 
Should  they,  indeed,  pretend  to  have  found  a  weak  place  in  the 
defenses,  Zion  might,  one  would  think,  smile  without  danger  at 
the  emptiness  of  their  boasting,  and  rely  in  perfect  confidence 
upon  the  strength  of  her  walls.  Other  doctrines  would,  perhaps, 
be  threatened,  but  that  of  the  Incarnation  must  have  been  secure 
in  the  impregnable  position  it  occupied  behind  the  entrenchments 
of  the  four  Councils.  These  had  advanced  w^ith  such  regular 
progress  towards  the  peifecting  of  the  Faith,  and  had  evolved  so 
thorough  a  dogmatic  statement  of  the  truths  regarding  our  blessed 
Saviour,  that  the  grateful  heart  spontaneously  bows  in  adoration 
of  the  Lord,  whose  providence  so  kindly  provided  for  the  neces- 
sities of  later  generations  in  giving  His  Church  at  that  early  age 
so  complete  a  system  of  formulated  doctrine. 

As  soon  as  we  turn  from  Chalcedon  to  the  study  of  the  Fifth 
Council,  we  lose  the  interest  which  springs  from  the  source  just 
mentioned.  We  must  not  forget,  however,  that  the  General 
Councils  did  not  have  as  their  sole  aim  the  settlina;  of  the  Faith 
for  unborn  generations,  but  were  even  more  necessary  for  their 
own  age  than  for  ours.  They  were  necessitated  by  the  ui-gency 
of  the  immediate  occasion,  and,  while  technically  useless,  may  have 
been  of  the  very  highest  practical  benefit.  For  example,  though, 
after  the  continuous  integrity  of  the  two  natures  has  been  settled, 
it  may  seem  ridiculous  for  any  one  who  admits  the  correctness 
of  that  decision  to  insist  that  the  human  will,  the  most  essential 
attribute  of  a  free  agent,  was  absorbed  in  the  divine,  yet  a  due  re- 
gard for  the  souls  of  the  uneducated  and  of  the  unstable  may  require 
that  a  novel  teaching  of  that  kind  should  be  specifically  denounced. 
Therefore  we  may  not  rashly  pronounce  the  remaining  councils 
unnecessary,  but  ought  to  suspend  our  judgments  until  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  case  have  passed  in  review.     As  regards  our- 


218  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

selves,  too,  let  us  remember  that  our  convictions  do  not  always 
servilely  attend  upon  the  steps  of  logic.  Perhaps,  while  satisfied 
in  our  understandings  by  the  action  of  the  fi^rst  four  general  coun- 
cils, we  will  experience,  as  we  thread  the  mazes  that  still  remain, 
and  take  a  rapid  survey  of  the  strong  redoubts  constructed  by  the 
Second  and  Third  Councils  of  Constantinople,  a  marked  increase 
of  confidence,  a  certain  strengthening  of  our  convictions.  If  such 
good  results  accrue  even  to  us  from  the  confirmation  of  what  had 
been  already  decided,  let  us  not  despise  these  two  synods  as  hav- 
ing been  superfluous. 

Xearly  a  century  elapsed  before  the  first  movement  was  made 
towards  the  calling  of  a  fifth  council.  Councils  had  come  to  be 
looked  upon  as  dangerous  things,  as  more  likely  to  widen  a  breach 
than  to  close  it ;  this  was  a  harsh  and  a  mistaken  view  to  take  of 
them,  but  yet  one  to  which  the  conduct  of  assembled  dignitaries 
had  often  given  too  much  color.  Even  after  Justinian  had  begun 
to  entertain  the  thought  of  once  more  evoking  the  voice  of  the 
Church,  he  shrank  from  the  hazard  of  convening  an  assembly,  and 
preferred  to  adopt  the  plan,  which  had  already  been  tried,  of  ob- 
taining the  aggregate  sentiment  of  the  episcopate  by  a  collation 
of  private  opinions  given  in  reply  to  a  circular  letter.  Such  a 
measure  might  have  been  pardonable,  had  it  been  honorably  car- 
ried out,  as  an  honest  substitute  for  the  more  regular  method;  but 
when  it  involved  briberv  and  intimidation,  it  was  inexcusable. 
Are  deliberative  assemblies  useless,  in  the  Church  or  elsewhere  ? 
Can  public  affaii-s  be  just  as  well  administered  by  a  hundred  legis- 
lators who  stay  at  home  and  correspond  with  each  other,  as  by 
those  same  men  duly  met  together  and  consulting  wuth  one  an- 
other in  open  session,  or,  if  the  case  demands  it,  in  secret  conclave? 
Shall  not  men  who  are  under  solemn  obligations  to  search  for  the 
verv  best  means  of  extricatino;  a  nation  from  between  the  horns  of 
an  unpleasant  dilennna,  be  encouraged  to  debate  the  subject,  even 
at  the  risk  of  acting  upon  each  other  occasionally  like  flint  and 
steel?  What  despot,  hampered  by  an  elective  chamber,  w^ould 
not  hail  with  loud  acclamation  the  theory  that  he  may  neglect  to 
call  the  delegates  together,  and  may  consult  them  by  letters  ?  An 
end  there  is  at  once  to  all  outspokenness  and  independence. 
The  ruler's  imagination  easily  calls  up  the  numberless  resources 
which  power  can  bring  to  bear  upon  isolated  individuality.  Say, 
for  instance,  that  a  particular  member  proves  refractory,  and  dis- 


THE  SECOND   COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  219 

plays  a  courage  that  does  not  blench.  "Why !  How  simple  will 
be  the  task  of  representing  to  him  that  every  one  else  has  con- 
sented M'ith  complacence,  and  that  he  alone  stands  out,  to  ap- 
proach him  with  this  or  that  insidious  temptation  that  may  be 
supposed  best  adapted  to  shake  his  inflexibility,  to  whisper  threat 
upon  threat  that  miglit  well  chill  the  blood  of  the  boldest !  In  a 
great  gathering,  on  the  other  hand,  the  weak  see  that  they  are 
supported,  the  most  mercenary  that  they  are  watched,  the  coura- 
geous that  their  fortitude  inspires  others ;  while  the  acute  intel- 
lects discern  dithculties,  reasons,  and  devices  which  the  dull  would 
overlook  a  thousand  times,  and  the  powerful  speakers  eloquently 
and  persuasively  address  ears  that  would  be  impervious  to  all  un- 
spoken language.  The  tyrant  trembles  when  the  popular  assembly 
meets  in  his  capital,  and  anxiously  awaits  the  chance  of  proroguing 
it :  so  shakes  heresy  with  the  palsy  of  fear  when  a  multitude  of 
Christian  fiithers  sits  in  solemn  conclave,  and  would  hug  itself 
in  an  ecstasy  of  self-congratulation  could  it  dismiss  them  to 
their  homes  to  fall  an  easy  prey,  each  man  separately,  to  its 
machinations. 

The  controversy  to  decide  which  the  council  was  summoned  is 
said  to  have  been  excited,  not  by  a  man  who  honestly  believed  in 
the  error  attacked,  but  by  one  who  wished  to  draw  off  attention 
from  himself  and  his  friends,  so  that  they  might  be  permitted  to 
pursue,  without  molestation  or  annoyance,  their  chosen  path,  even 
if  it  led  them  away  from  the  truth  and  from  safety.  Although 
indigenous  to  Egypt,  the  ideas  which  Origen  had  so  ably  defended 
made  their  way  into  Asia,  and  struck  deep  root  in  various  dis- 
tricts, and  among  others  in  Palestine.  "While  the  early  Church 
had  not  discountenanced  the  high  allegorical  or  extreme  mystical 
method  of  interpreting  Scripture,  which  neglected  the  letter  of 
the  text  and  sought  for  all  sorts  of  recondite  meanings  supposed 
to  lurk  beneath  the  exterior,  it  had  been  disposed  to  frown  upon 
some  of  the  results  which  the  mighty  brain  of  that  strange  being 
educed  through  the  method  he  had  improved,  at  least,  if  not  in- 
vented. Prominent  among  these  was  a  tenet  which  has  always 
sounded  very  sweetly  in  the  ear  of  the  godless,  and  has  extended 
its  sway  over  many  a  pious,  but  weak,  heart  that  has  recoiled 
from  the  horror  of  the  blazing  pit,  and  sought  to  deliver  even  the 
worst  from  that  dreadful  doom.  Origen  ventured  to  advocate  the 
idea  that  punishment  is  only  temporary,  and  is  always  inflicted 


220  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

with  a  view  to  the  purgation  and  reformation  of  the  offender. 
Embracins:  the  stran^-e  notion  that  the  hardened  criminal,  who  has 
converted  into  curses  all  the  mercies  which  the  All-merciful  scat- 
tered along  his  earthl}'  path  with  such  lavish  hand,  can  be  re- 
claimed bj  the  stings  of  remorse, — that  one  who  has  been  obsti- 
nately deaf  to  the  pleadings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  is  likely  to 
be  lured  into  righteousness  by  the  horrible  execrations  and  detest- 
able ribaldry  of  the  damned, — the  Adamantine  skillfully  emascu- 
lated the  vigorous  threats  and  warnings  of  the  written  word  in 
order  to  teach  tlie  final  restoration  to  happiness  both  of  lost  souls 
and  of  the  rebel  angels,  Origenism,  over  which  Jerome  and  Ru- 
finus  had,  in  the  latter  years  of  the  fourth  century,  thrust  and 
parried  with  almost  equal  skill  and  determination  through  many 
tedious  volumes,  survived  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth;  nor  had 
time  stolen  the  charms  which  enabled  it  to  command  the  homage 
of  devoted  champions.  In  Palestine  it  had  won,  about  the  year 
520,  the  enthusiastic  support  of  the  monastic  society  called  the 
New  Laura.  As  the  other  monks  were  generally  pronounced  anti- 
Origenists,  we  might  anticipate  that  violent  disturbances  would 
spread  among  the  laiira.^^  or  communities  of  monks,  leading  some- 
times to  bloodshed.  The  patriarch  Peter,  powerless  to  allay  the 
commotion,  brought  the  matter  before  the  emperor,  who  was  glad 
enough  to  have  the  opportunity  of  exhibiting  his  knowledge  of 
theological  subjects,  and  his  art  in  adjusting  controversies  of  that 
description.  It  is  said  that  Justinian,  in  a  letter  to  Mennas,  patri- 
arch of  Constantinople,  made  the  ludicrous  mistake  of  charging 
Origen  with  plagiarism  from  a  man  who  flourished  later  than  the 
great  Alexandrian,  and  gave  his  name  to  the  Manicha^ans.  At 
Justinian's  suggestion,  fifteen  anathemas  were  pronounced  by  a 
Constantinopolitan  synod  against  the  teachings  of  the  Adaman- 
tine. There  were,  at  this  time,  two  staunch  Origenists  at  court, 
whose  principles,  however,  were  not  so  strict  as  to  forbid  their 
temporizing,  or  even  committing  a  crime  very  near  akin  to  per- 
jury, in  order  to  gain  their  ends.  Theodore  Ascidas  and  Domi- 
tian,  two  Palestinian  abbots,  lately  promoted  to  bishoprics,  but 
•usually  residing  in  the  imperial  city,  possessed  great  influence  over 
Justinian.  By  signing  the  anathemas,  they  not  only  consulted 
their  own  temporal  welfare,  but  placed  themselves  in  a  position  to 
advance  the  interests  of  their  party.  While  casting  about  for  the 
most  feasible  plan  of  diverting  the  public  gaze  from  his  own 


THE  SECOND  COUNCIL   OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  221 

faction,  Theodore's  shrewdness  and  his  hatred  for  the  Nestor ians 
combined  to  suggest  the  expediency  of  raising  anotlier  outcry 
against  that  sect.   No  better  artifice  could  have  been  contrived.    The 
old  opposition  to  Chalcedon  still  smouldered,  alarming  Christendom 
now  and  again  with  flames  which  shot  upwards  from  the  slumber- 
ing crater  and  reddened  the  whole  heavens;  and  an  earnest  and 
laudable  desire  to  regain  the  Acephali  of  Alexandria  reigned  in  the 
royal  bosom.     It  would  not  have  answered  to  assail  the  Council 
directly,  but  the  course  was  open  of  suggesting  that  the  animosity 
against  it  arose  from  its  having  seemed  to  countenance  Nestorian- 
ism  by  admitting  into  communion  men  who  were  suspected  of 
favoring  that  heresy.     In  selecting  those  three  Antiochene  doc- 
tors,— Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  Theodoret  of  Cyrus,  and  Ibas  of 
Edessa, — for   condemnation,  Ascidas  was  true   to   the  traditions 
of  the  Egyptian  school,  and  also  reechoed  a  cry  which  had  long 
resounded  through  the  churches.     They  were  not,  however,  all 
upon  an  equal  footing,  for  the  orthodoxy  of  the  last  two  had  been 
recognized  at  Chalcedon,  which  circumstance  effectually  protected 
them  from  the  anathemas  of  all  who  did  not  wish  to  appear  in  the 
field  against  that  council ;  while  no  such  shield  covered  the  vener- 
able and  unprotected  head  of  Theodore.     The  latter,  therefore, 
might  be  personally  anathematized  without  injury  to  the  memory 
of  Chalcedon,  but  the  persons  of  the  other  two  were  sacred  from 
attack.     The  only  scheme  for  reaching  them  would  be  to  affix  a 
stigma  to  their  writings.    Some  of  those  were  accordingly  selected 
which  had  been  written  before  they  had  abjured  their  errors,  cer- 
tain compositions  of  Theodoret  directed  against  Cyril,  and  a  letter 
of  Ibas  to  a  Persian  named  Maris.     The  artifice  of  Ascidas  suc- 
ceeded so  well,  that  when,  in  544,  Justinian  published  an  edict  in 
which  he  had  collected  into  Three  Chapters  (as  they  were  called) 
the  writings  of  Theodore,  Theodoret,  and  Ibas,  and  pronounced 
anathemas  upon  them  and  their  defenders,  and  upon  Theodore  of 
Mopsuestia  himself,  Origenism  vanished  from  sight  like  a  taper 
before  the  blaze  of  a  confiagration. 

The  antipathy  to  these  men  was  strangely  persistent,  they  not 
having  been  founders,  nor  very  prominent  leaders  of  the  sect,  and 
one  of  them,  indeed,  having  died  the  very  year  that  Anastasius 
first  attacked  the  Theotokos.  Two  of  them  had  publicly  re- 
nounced their  errors,  but  mankind  is  usually  very  reluctant  to 
believe  in  the  sincerity  of  the  repentance  of  those  who  have  once 


222  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

incurred  its  displeasure.  Thongli  unable  to  deny  that  Tlieodoret 
did  hold  at  one  period  of  his  life  sentiments  not  strictly  orthodox, 
we  cannot  refrain  from  paying  a  tribute  to  the  almost  unexamjoled 
moderation  of  his  conduct.  In  an  age  of  fierce  strife,  when  the 
very  best  were  being  drawn  into  unseemly  contentions,  and  goaded 
into  rash,  unjust,  and  violent  deeds  in  behalf  of  a  faction,  this 
man  appears  to  have  preserved  a  calm  and  collected  demeanor, 
even  in  the  midst  of  a  tumultuous  assembly  that  was  almost  on 
the  point  of  laying  hands  upon  him,  and  to  have  placed  such  re- 
straint upon  his  own  unruly  passions  as  to  acknowledge  his  errors 
upon  being  convinced  that  the  Catholic  Church,  and  not  he,  was 
in  the  right.  Theodoret's  recantation  may  have  been  the  result 
of  cowardice,  or  the  work  of  self-interest :  if  so,  it  was  a  most  dis- 
graceful act.  Such  a  supposition,  however,  gains  no  color  from 
the  previous  conduct  of  the  bishop,  nor  is  it  borne  out  b}'  anything 
we  can  trace  in  his  after  life :  on  the  contrary,  all  the  evidence 
seems  to  fivor  the  view  that  it  was  the  honest  deed  of  a  frank,  coura- 
geous, humble  soul,  turning  away  in  self-abasement  from  its  errors, 
and  anxious  to  atone  for  the  evil  of  its  previous  example  by  mak- 
ing open  confession.  Thus  viewed,  the  conduct  of  the  execrated 
bishop  at  Chalccdon,  when  his  voice  was  lost  amid  the  angry  cries 
of  his  auditors,  becomes  grand  in  the  extreme ;  while  the  man 
himself  rises  into  a  hero.  He  is  not  driven  into  flight  and  revolt, 
he  does  not  suifer  himself  to  be  thrown  off  his  balance,  but  lifts 
his  hoary  head  far  above  his  enemies  in  placid  majesty,  and  quietly 
bides  his  time,  unshaken  in  resolution,  unfaltering  in  humility, 
and  undaunted  in  spirit. 

As  Justinian  is  to  play  so  active  a  part  in  the  new  controversy, 
his  life  and  character  may  well  engage  our  attention,  in  order  that 
we  may  know  with  what  kind  of  a  man  the  Church  then  had  to 
deal.  Tiie  first  of  his  obscure  Dacian  family  to  wear  the  purple 
was  an  uncle  who,  having  deserted  Sardica  on  foot  with  two  com- 
panions, and  been  enrolled  among  the  huge  and  mighty  guards- 
men of  Leo,  fought  his  way  upwards  till,  at  the  death  of  the  em- 
peror Anastasius,  he  had  become  their  commander,  and  was  in  a 
position  to  aspire  to  the  throne.  Ashamed  of  the  ignorance  by 
which  he  felt  himself  fettered,  Justin  resolved  that  his  nephew 
and  successor  should  enjoy  the  advantages  of  a  thorough  educa- 
tion. Like  Theodosius  II.,  Justinian  was  a  close  student,  but  not 
endowed  by  nature  with  any  remarkable  degi'ee  of  talent.     For- 


THE  SECOND   COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  223 

tunate  in  such  generals  as  Narses  and  BeKsarius,  and  such  a  law- 
yer as  Tribonian,  his  reign  was  made  illustrious  by  many  brilliant 
victories,  and  by  those  marvels  of  jurisprudence,  the  Code,  the 
Pandects,  and  the  Ins.titutes ;  but  the  monarch  himself  fails  to 
excite  our  admiration.  His  private  life  was  a  strange  medley  of 
ascetic  rigor  and  licentious  indulgence,  and  his  public  administra- 
tion disgraced  by  frequent  manifestations  of  cruelty  and  rapacious- 
ness.  The  treatment  awarded  that  pillar  of  his  throne,  the  mag- 
nanimous and  invincible  Belisarius,  after  age  had  weakened  the 
dreaded  arm  of  that  hero,  needed  not  the  assistance  of  Procopius's 
satire  to  consign  Justinian's  memory  to  the  well-merited  reproach 
of  posterity.  Perhaps  no  sovereign  ever  made  worse  selection  of 
a  consort  than  he  did  in  oflering  his  hand  to  the  infamous  prosti- 
tute, whose  elevation  made  the  name  of  Theodora  more  detested 
among  the  virtuous  than  even  that  of  Antonina,  Belisarius's 
shameless  spouse.  The  emperor  and  empress  arrayed  themselves 
in  opposing  ranks  upon  the  all-engrossing  subject  of  religion,  Jus- 
tinian being  a  decided  Catholic,  until  in  extreme  old  age  he  turned 
aside  into  the  forbidden  paths  of  Incorruptibilism,  and  Theodora, 
on  the  contrary,  never  swerving  from  her  allegiance  to  the  Mono- 
physite  party.  Some  suppose  that  motives  of  state  induced  the 
pair  to  become  ostensible  patrons  of  the  two  parties,  and  profess 
to  discover  proof  of  this  in  the  fact  that  in  general  the  wifely  in- 
fluence of  the  empress  was  unbounded. 

The  edict  of  544  commanded  generally  obedience,  obtaining 
the  signatures  of  a  large  number  of  Eastern  bishops,  though  not  a 
few  of  them  displayed  much  reluctance  to  endorse  its  sentiments. 
Some  declined  to  subscribe,  and  cheerfully  submitted  to  banish- 
ment. The  four  patriarchs  overcame  their  repugnance  with  great 
difficulty,  and  Mennas  covered  his  retreat  with  the  extraordinary 
stipulation  that  he  should  be  free  to  erase  his  signature  in  the 
event  of  the  Roman  bishops  not  concurring.  From  two  quarters, 
however,  arose  a  more  determined  opposition. 

More  than  a  century  previous  the  craft  of  .^tius  had  stung 
the  general  of  Africa  to  revolt  against  his  ungrateful  sovereign 
and  open  negotiations  with  Gonderic,  the  Yandal  king,  who  was 
then  engaged  in  the  task  of  subduing  Spain.  The  forces  of  those 
barbarians  under  the  redoubtable  leadership  of  Genseric,  who  had 
succeeded  to  his  half-brother,  easily  overthrew  the  troops  which 
Boniface,  too  late  repentant,  could  marshal  against  them,  and 


224  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

goon  overran  IsTortb  Africa.  Then  dawned  a  dark  day  for  the 
church  of  Cyprian  and  Augustine.  The  tyrant  was  a  bitter  Arian, 
and  taught  his  race  to  M'ield  the  biting  scourge  of  persecution  witli 
merciless  fanaticism.  The  faith  of  Athanasius  and  the  Councils 
was  proscribed.  The  iiithers  of  the  Church  were  insulted,  ban- 
ished, tortured,  slain.  To  the  horrors  which  avarice,  licentious- 
ness, and  cruelty  perpetrate  under  cover  of  war  were  added  the 
still  jcreater  sutferinii-s  inflicted  bv  reliofious  hatred.  "We  feel  our 
breasts  heave  with  pity  for  the  down-trodden  people  and  oppressed 
church.  Yet  mark  the  end !  Genseric's  Vandals  amass  plunder 
and  live  in  luxury  upon  the  labor  and  wealth  of  others ;  and  in 
three  generations  have  become  so  enervated  that  the  once  invinci- 
ble hordes  are  dispersed  by  the  onset  of  Belisarius  like  the  mists 
of  morning  before  the  rising  wind.  On  the  other  hand,  the  per- 
secuted Church  has  clothed  herself,  during  those  generations,  in 
clean  and  shining  robes,  washed  and  anointed  herself,  and  resumed 
the  glorious  beauty  of  an  earlier  period.  Scant  fare  and  a  life  of 
hardship  and  exposure  under  the  blue  canopy  of  heaven  and  amid 
the  healthful  breezes  that  swept  over  plain  and  mountain,  have 
restored  the  delicate  outline  and  radiant  purity  which  had  fled 
from  a  countenance  swollen  with  the  surfeits  of  indolence  and 
gluttony.  In  the  midst  of  peril  and  privation,  the  African  church 
had  learned  to  be  loyal,  courageous,  and  firm,  so  that  when  Justin- 
ian bade  her  swerve  aside  from  what  she  believed  to  be  the  path 
of  rectitude,  many  of  her  sons  rose  in  their  might  and  claimed  the 
privilege  of  serving  God  rather  than  man.  Some,  doubtless,  had 
practiced  the  disgraceful  art  of  turning  their  coats,  according  as 
this  sect  or  that  happened  to  be  in  the  ascendant,  till  they  had 
come  to  wear  any  badge  with  placid  servility,  and  were  ready  now 
to  denounce  the  Three  Chapters  in  unmeasured  terms;  but  there 
were  not  wanting  many  prepared  to  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder 
with  Pontianus  in  resisting  imperial  usurpation,  and  let  the  despot 
of  Asia  know  that  the  freedmen  of  Christ  were  slaves  of  no  man, 
whatever  his  power  and  however  vast  his  pretensions. 

Resistance  also  came  from  the  north  of  the  Mediterranean. 
In  elevating  Yigilius  to  the  episcopal  throne  of  old  Rome,  Theo- 
dora had  advanced  a  man  equally  versed  with  herself  in  the  arj; 
of  double-dealing.  Subservient  enough,  doubtless,  while  an  hum- 
ble deacon  in  the  train  of  Agapetus,  with  an  eye  directed  upon  his 
own  interests,  no  sooner  did  the  compliant  and  obsequious  cleric 


THE  SECOND   COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  225 

close  liis  fingers  upon  the  coveted  reward  of  liis  hypocrisy,  than  he 
forgot  the  return  that  was  expected  by  the  royal  mistress  who  had 
so  highly  favored  him,  and,  feeling  himself  occupant  of  the  highest 
position  in  the  Church,  resolved  still  to  take  counsel  of  ambition. 
The  Koman  see,  however,  was  not  as  independent  of  Constanti- 
nople as  it  had  been  in  the  days  of  Leo.  The  sceptre  of  Italy, 
seized  by  the  barbarian  after  it  had  dropped  from  the  nerveless 
grasp  of  Augustulus,  was  now  being  torn  from  his  clutch  by  that 
illustrious  general  who  restored  to  the  imperial  arms  almost  the 
lustre  of  their  brightest  sheen.  Hence  Vigilius  could  not  assume 
the  independent  tone  that  had  characterized  some  of  his  immedi- 
ate predecessors  as  high  dignitaries  of  another  realm.  Indeed,  it 
is  not  unlikely  that  he  would  readily  have  stooped  still  to  court 
the  favor  of  Justinian,  had  not  the  temper  of  his  clergy  and  people 
been  so  strongly  opposed  to  such  a  step  that  he  could  not  venture 
to  follow  the  bent  of  his  own  inclinations.  That  he  took  the  course 
he  did  was  owing,  not  certainly  to  the  strength  of  his  convictions, 
but  rather  to  the  determined  stand  made  by  the  Africans,  the 
bishops  of  Illyria  and  Dalmatia,  and  others,  against  what  they  be- 
lieved to  be  encroachments  upon  the  domain  of  religion. 

Not  easily  to  be  turned  from  his  purpose,  the  emperor,  also 
prompted,  it  is  said,  in  taking  this  measure  by  fear  of  another 
schism  of  Old  and  ]S^ew  Rome,  summoned  the  western  patriarch 
to  Constantinople ;  in  the  neighborhood  of  which  city  he  was 
obliged  to  spend  more  than  seven  years.  Vigilius  soon  weakly 
signed  a  secret  covenant  to  condemn  the  Three  Chapters,  at- 
tempted in  vain  to  draw  over  to  that  side  the  members  of  a  synod 
which  was  held  at  the  imperial  city  in  548,  and  then  imitated  the 
example  of  his  sovereign  by  issuing  a  paper  of  compromise,  which 
is  knoM'n  as  his  Judlcahun,  and  endeavoring  to  obtain  the  separate 
signatures  of  the  bishops.  The  spirited  resistance  of  North  Africa 
and  Illyria  to  the  requisitions  of  Justinian  at  length  awoke  a 
corresponding  courage  within  the  vacillating  bosom  of  the  Latin, 
so  that  he  positively  refused  to  subscribe  a  second  profession  of 
faith,  which  the  emperor  put  forth  in  551,  and  threatened  all 
who  should  affix  their  names  with  sentence  of  excommunica- 
tion. This  bold  defiance  drove  the  patriarch  from  Constanti- 
nople to  Chalcedon  and  the  church  of  St.  Eupliemia,  in  which 
he  found  those  benefits  of  sanctuary  he  had  vainly  sought  in  a 
metropolitan  church ;  from  the  very  altar  of  which  he  had  been 


226  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

dragged  by  the  soldiers  with  a  violence  that  just  escaped  burj-ing 
him  beneath  its  ruins. 

The  Latins  seemed  tolerably  united  in  theu*  resistance.  Datius 
of  Milan  was  conspicuous  as  a  leader  of  the  opposition,  and  two 
of  Yierilius's  own  attendant  deacons  did  not  hesitate  in  the  matter 
of  his  Judicatum  to  go  the  length  of  even  renouncing  church-fel- 
lowship with  their  recreant  chief.  In  Africa  several  names  be- 
came ilhistrious.  Pontianus  has  already  been  mentioned.  When 
the  emperor's  first  edict  reached  Africa,  lie  replied  to  the  eftect 
that  he  and  his  fellow-bishops  did  not  care  to  anathematize  men 
who  had  already  gone  before  the  infallible  Judge,  or  condemn 
■wTitings  of  which  they  knew  nothing  ;  and  administered  a  solemn 
warning,  in  the  true  tone  of  a  Jeremiah,  to  be  very  cautious  how 
he  disturbed  the  peace  of  God's  people.  Fulgentius  Feri-andus 
had  the  honor  of  being  consulted,  though  only  a  deacon,  by  Yigil- 
ius  through  two  delegates,  who  were  dispatched  to  obtain  his 
valuable  and  learned  opinion  upon  the  matters  in  dispute,  when 
the  imperial  pressure  was  first  Ijrought  to  bear  u])on  that  fickle- 
minded  Roman ;  and  pronounced  clearly  and  boldly  against  the 
edict  on  the  grounds  that  it  derogated  from  the  authority  of  the 
Fourth  Council,  that  it  passed  judgment  upon  those  who  were  no 
longer  amenable  to  human  law,  and  that  it  aspired  to  the  dignity 
and  absolute  domination  of  inspired  Scripture.  Reparatus  of 
Carthage,  after  presiding  over  a  synod  which  presumed  to  excom- 
municate the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  went  to  Constantinople  for 
the  puipose  of  attending  a  council  in  551,  and  was  deposed  and 
banished  because  neither  bribes,  smooth  speeches,  nor  threats 
could  shake  his  fidelity.  Facundus  of  Ilermiane,  an  outspoken 
delegate  at  one  of  the  synods,  and  the  autlior  of  a  remarkable 
treatise  written  in  defense  of  the  Three  Chapters  and  addressed 
to  Justinian,  whom  he  rebukes  for  intruding  into  a  province 
which  does  not  belong  to  the  civil  ruler,  perhaps  deserves  to 
close  the  list. 

The  main  objections  brought  forward  against  condemning  the 
Three  Chapters  may  be  ranged  under  two  heads, — respect  for  the 
authority  of  Chalcedon,  ^nd  repugnance  to  anathematizing  the 
dead.  A  third  has  already  been  mentioned,  but,  inasmuch  as  the 
decree  of  Justinian  never  was  elevated  into  the  position  he  claimed 
for  it,  this  objection  being  leveled  against  that  claim  was  only  of 
transient  importance.     As  concerns  the  former  of  the  two  above 


TEE  SECOND  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  227 

specified,  the  authority  of  Chalcedon  certainly  was  not  impugned, 
even  indirectly,  unless  it  was  so  in  the  matter  of  Ibas's  letter ;  for 
Theodore's  writings  had  been  in  no  way  sanctioned  by  that  coun- 
cil, nor  had  those  of  Theodoret  against  which  the  decree  was 
aimed.  The  assembled  bishops  had  done  little  more  for  their 
brother  of  Cyrus  than  merely  to  accept  his  repentance  upon  his 
abjuring  Nestorianism.  And  as  for  the  letter,  the  honor  of  Chal- 
cedon was  saved  even  in  regard  to  it  by  treating  it  as  a  base  imi- 
tation of  the  one  which  had  been  approved  by  that  synod.  This 
point  must  be  admitted  to  have  been  one  of  some  delicacy :  the 
document  under  dispute  may  have  been  wholly  a  forgery  or  a 
greatly  corrupted  copy  of  the  genuine  one ;  and  it  is  sure  that  the 
Fifth  Council  would  never  have  consented  to  cast  it  out  upon  any 
other  supposition.  Yet  we  are  not  compelled  to  show  that  such  a 
forgery  actually  had  been  made,  in  order  to  rescue  our  theory  of 
General  Councils  from  total  overthrow.  The  confirmation  of  the 
sentiments  and  expressions  in  the  letter  was  not  a  matter  of  great 
moment  to  the  world  at  large.  Beyond  a  fraternal  interest,  the 
great  Church,  east  and  west,  did  not  care  very  much  whether 
Theodore,  Theodoret,  and  Ibas  were  orthodox  or  not.  What 
concerned  it  was  whether  the  doctrine  of  one  composite  nature 
was  true  or  false,  and  that  was  it  upon  which  the  attention  of  the 
provincial  churches  was  concentrated,  to  the  neglect  of  the  minor 
matters  which  came  before  the  council.  That  was  the  great  ques- 
tion under  discussion,  and  it  was  large  enough  to  eclipse  most 
others.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  an  (Ecumenical  Council  is 
authoritative  as  to  all  its  decisions :  that  would  be  the  case,  to  be 
sure,  did  the  full  power  and  right  to  decide  lie  in  the  council 
itself,  but  not  if  the  ultimate  appeal  is  to  the  judgment  of  the  en- 
tire mass.  If  it  is  the  ratification  that  constitutes  the  cecumenicity, 
then  it  appears  rational  enough  to  limit  the  authoritativeness  to 
the  matters  actually  passed  upon  by  the  Church  at  large ;  which  is 
equivalent  to  circumscribing  it  by  the  boundaries  of  those  topics 
which  can  be  supposed  momentous  enough,  under  all  the  circum- 
stances, to  have  engrossed  public  notice.  The  letter  of  Ibas  at 
the  time  of  the  former  gathering  was  not  generally  known  ;  it  was 
probably  only  incidentally  brought  before  the  assemblage  as  bearing 
upon  the  propriety  of  restoring  the  deposed  bishop  of  Edessa,  and 
certainly  obtained  no  mention  in  the  formulary  of  faith  :  therefore, 
we  cannot  think  that  the  orthodoxy  of  the  document  came  at  all 


228  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

before  the  churches.  Of  course,  Chalcedon  might  have  been  com- 
mitted to  it  in  such  a  way  as  almost  to  stand  or  fall  with  it :  for- 
tunately, however,  it  did  not  entrust  its  fate  to  so  frail  a  craft, 
but  left  that  perilous  enterprise  to  the  succeeding  council,  which 
did  stake  its  good  name,  not,  however,  upon  the  seaworthiness  of 
the  bark,  but  upon  its  unseaworthiness.  The  Second  Council  of 
Constantinople,  in  bearing  -witness  so  energetically  against  that 
ill-starred  writing,  lifted  it  by  main  force  into  an  importance  which 
hardly  belonged  to  it ;  and,  had  that  synod  made  a  mistake  regard- 
ing it,  we  would  hardly  hope  to  obtain  a  hearing  for  such  a  plea 
as  we  are  now  gratuitously  ofiering  in  behalf  of  Chalcedon, — one, 
perhaps,  which  would  grate  upon  the  ears  of  Ferrandus  and 
Facundus,  were  they  now  alive.  The  Africans,  with  all  their 
independence  and  fidelity,  seem  to  have  labored  under  two  mis- 
conceptions, pardonable  enough  to  a  church  that  had  endured  the 
trials  and  suffered  the  deprivations  of  a  long  persecution.  In  the 
first  place,  they  mistook,  apparently,  the  nature  of  the  action 
taken  by  Chalcedon  upon  the  writings  of  Theodoret  and  Ibas; 
and,  in  the  second  place,  they  did  not  manifest  a  very  accurate 
understanding  of  the  doctrine  of  General  Councils,  lending  coun- 
tenance to  the  notion  that  the  final  authority  resides  in  the  council 
itself.  If  we  should  pass  a  general  stricture  upon  the  conciliar 
age,  and  say  that,  while  it  acted  correctly  upon  the  true  theory  of 
(Ecumenicity,  it  did  not  thoroughly  comprehend  that  theory,  we 
would  be  thought  by  many  to  have  made  a  damaging  admission. 
Well,  then,  so  much  the  worse  for  the  theory,  since  the  facts  can 
hardly  be  denied.  If  sore  beset  by  our  antagonists,  we  will  take 
refuge  behind  the  general  truth  that  people  often  obey  with 
tolerable  exactness  a  principle  of  which  they  know  almost  nothing. 
Is  it  necessary,  in  order  for  a  man  to  preserve  a  perpendicular 
attitude,  that  he  should  be  familiar  with  the  rule  of  mechanics, 
that  a  line  dropped  from  his  centre  of  gravity  must  not  fall  out- 
side of  the  base  ?  The  subject  never  having  been  exhaustively, 
or  even  attentively  studied,  the  common  language  and  the  com- 
mon thought  about  it  were  liable  to  the  reproach  of  vagueness 
and  inadequateness,  and  sometimes,  perhaps,  of  downright  error. 
While  disposed  to  treat  the  Africans  with  all  possible  respect, 
we  cannot  coincide  with  their  second  objection,  any  more  than 
their  first.  It  is  contemptible,  most  assuredly,  to  persecute  the 
dead.     He  who  will  defame  one  that  has  lain  down  to  rest  in 


THE  SECOND   COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  229 

peace  and  honor,  in  order  to  gratify  inextingnisliable  bate  or  to 
magnify  himself  at  his  expense,  deserves  the  pillory  of  nniversal 
detestation.     It  is  a  shameful  deed  imnecessarily  to  reveal  even 
the  truth  about  the  departed,  should  the  disclosure  involve  dis- 
creditable transactions.      But  are  there   no   imaginable   circum- 
stances that  will  justify  the  throwing  of  blame  upon  one  whose 
earthly  account  has  been  closed?     If  the  doctrinal  errors  of  a 
religious  teacher  have  led  multitudes  astray,  is  it  wrong  to  lay 
before  the  deceived  evidence  proving  that  the  heresiarch's  private 
life  was  not  quite   so   blameless   as  he  had  wished  to  make  it 
appear  ?     The  rights  of  praising  and  of  blaming  being  correla- 
tives, is  it  not  true  that  the  title  to  one  involves  that  to  the  other  ? 
Now,  men  that  have  gone  far  beyond  the  reach  of  earthly  tribu- 
nals are  canonized,  formally  among  some,  actually  among  all. 
The  obloquy  and  detraction,  which  not  infrequently  cling  to  a 
great  and  good  soul  through  his  Hfe,  perish  with  the  faction  which 
sought  to  trample  him  in  the  mud,  and  then  the  impartial  judg- 
ment of  posterity  hastens  to  envelop  his  ghost  in  an  aureole  of 
glory.     Is  not  this  a  commendable,  though  tardy,  deed  ?     Or  did 
the  world  sin  in  hallowing  the  fetters  which  the  tyranny  of  a 
jealous  sovereign  bound  upon  the  hands  which  had  given  him  a 
new  continent  ?     What  is  fair  and  proper  on  one  side  can  hardly 
be  unfair  and  improper  on  the  other.     If  it  be  allowable  and  com- 
mendable to  canonize  a  dead  man  who  deserves  such  treatment, 
how  can  it  be  wrong  to  condemn  and  anathematize  another  who 
merits  such  opprobrium  ?     No  attempt  is  thereby  made  to  forestall 
the  decision  of  infinite  justice,  nor  to  punish  the  departed  soul ; 
but  the  whole  aim  of  the  sentence  is  to  correct  the  ideas  of  the 
living,  and  to  warn  them  against  participating  in  the  errors  of  the 
condemned.     If  Origen  actually  did  teach  a  pernicious  heresy 
concerning  the  future  of  unrepentant  sinners,  or  the  bishop  of 
Mopsuestia  did  dishonor  the  Son  of  God  by  dividing  Him  into 
two  persons,  what  is  to  hinder  one  of  us,  or  all  of  us,  or  a  national 
church,  or  the  great  corporate  body,  from  declaring  that  he  was 
to  be  blamed  for  so  doing?     To  excommunicate  a  person  with 
whom  no  outward  communion  can  be  held,  is  ridiculous,  it  may 
be ;  but  to  pronounce  him  reprobate,  which  is  all  that  Such  an 
anathema  amounts  to,  is  a  reasonable  act,  and  one  that  may  be 
conducive  to  the  very  best  results.     For  such  a  course  of  action 
the  fortunate  ingenuity  of  Eutychius,  when  only  a  resident  com- 


230  THE  CHURCH  A2s^D  THE  FAITH. 

missioner  at  Constantinople,  discovered  a  Scriptural  precedent, 
which  so  greatly  delighted  Justinian  that  he  soon  promoted  him 
to  the  patriarchate  of  that  metropolis :  after  the  prophets  of  Baal 
had  been  consigned  to  their  tombs,  Josiah,  that  pious  king,  had 
their  remains  exhumed  and  burned. 

Soon  after  the  accession  of  the  new  patriarch,  and  in  the  year 
553,  all  the  Eastern  patriarchs  and  other  bishops,  to  the  number  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty-five  in  all,  including  five  from  Africa,  met 
at  Constantinople,  and  organized  themselves  into  the  Fifth  Gen- 
eral  Council.     Vigilius  resisted  all  solicitations   to    attend,  and 
would  doubtless  have  shared  the  doom  of  Reparatus,  the  heroic 
shepherd  of  Carthage,  and  been  sent  into  banishment,  had  not 
the  emperor  feared  that  such  action  would  have  rent  the  Church 
in  twain  once  more.     He  could  more  safely  be  punished  by  ex- 
communication, and  was   accordingly,  at  the  emperor's  request, 
stricken  from  the  diptychs.     The  collected  wisdom  of  Christen- 
dom not  only  condemned  the  Roman  bishop, — in  strange  forget- 
fulness  of  the  prerogatives  which  we  are  told  wei-e  always  his, — 
but  adopted  the  imperial  policy  in  general,  condemning  the  Three 
Chapters  and  all  their  adherents,  together  with  Theodore  of  Mop- 
suestia,  but  sparing  the  memories  of  Theodoret  and  Ibas.     The 
council  having  thus  approved  the  course  chosen  by  the  imperious 
ruler,  it  still  remained  to  be  seen  whether  the  approval  would  be 
ratified  by  the  West.     Vigilius,  succumbing  at  last  to  the  dreari- 
ness of  his  prolonged   confinement,  and  to  the  dread  of  worse 
results  should  he  persist  in  his  opposition,  stooped,  the  next  year, 
to  a  most  humiliating  recantation  and  submission,  gaining  thereby 
the  long-coveted  permission  to  retuni  home.     As  he  died  on  the 
journey  at  Syracuse,  his  archdeacon,  Pelagius,  succeeded  to  the 
vacant  seat  through  the  influence  of  his  royal  master,  who  knew 
him  to  be  a  wann  friend  of  the  late  council.     Rome  proceeded  to 
enforce  acceptance  of  the  sy nodical  decrees  by  measures  more  con- 
sonant with  the  nature  and  spirit  of  temporal  sovereignty  than  of 
that  mild  rule  which  alone  ought  to  have  place  in  the  kingdom  of 
Christ.     The  repugnance  of  the  whole  West  to  the  Constantino- 
politan  decrees,  gave  birth  to  a  persistent  and  firm  rejection  of 
them,  which  for  awhile  survived  the  deposition  and  banishment 
of  leading  bishops  and  the  substitution  of  creatures  of  Justinian's. 
Milan  and  Raveima  cut  themselves  loose  from  the  apostolic  see, 
and,  but  for  the  terrors  of  the  Lombard  invasion,  would  doubtless 


THE  SECOND   COUNCIL   OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  231 

have  stood  out,  and  forced  the  patriarch  to  come  over  on  their 
side.  With  better  fortune  or  loftier  courage,  Aquileia,  disdaining 
to  yield  when  once  she  had  undertaken  the  contest,  erected  herself 
into  a  patriarchate,  and  maintained  her  independence  for  nearly  a 
century  and  a  hah".  iSTevertheless,  the  decrees  of  the  Second 
Council  of  Constantinople  gradually  won  their  way  into  universal 
recognition. 

Such  is  the  history  of  the  Fifth  General  Council,  and  it  con- 
tains much  to  provoke  severe  conmient.  As  its  decrees  did  not 
directly  determine  anything  of  doctrinal  importance,  we  could  see 
it  stricken  from  the  hst  of  (Ecumenical  synods  with  less  regret 
than  any  of  the  others.  It  is  always  sad  to  mark  the  right  resort- 
ing to  wrongful  methods  in  order  to  triumph ;  the  truth  of  God, 
revealed  by  Christ,  entrusted  to  a  divinely  organized  Church,  and 
guarded  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  calling  upon  the  secular  arm  to  sup- 
port the  shaking  ark.  To  exact  of  people  possessed  of  average 
intelligence  and  independence  that  they  should  attach  much  im- 
portance to  a  consent  wrung  from  churches  by  outrageous  tyranny, 
and  call  that  final  agreement  of  coercion  the  voice  of  the  Spirit, 
or  even  the  reliahle  testimony  of  the  ecclesiastical  corporation, 
exposes  one  to  the  charge  of  insulting  their  reason.  Nevertheless, 
there  is,  of  course,  another  side  to  it  all,  and  the  view  from  another 
stand-point  may  reduce  us  to  something  like  patience  with  a  theory 
we  were  about  to  discard.  If  imperial  interposition  eventually 
extorted  assent,  was  it  not  due  to  imperial  interference,  in  the  first 
place,  that  any  extortion  became  necessary  ?  Suppose  that,  when 
Pontianus  had  professed  ignorance  of  the  Three  Chapters,  instead 
of  Justinian's  continuing  to  insist  peremptorily  upon  the  submis- 
sion of  the  Africans,  the  comprehensive  and  sedate  intellect  of  a 
Gregory  ISTazianzen,  or  the  powerful  and  massive  mind  of  an 
Athanasius,  had  undertaken  to  enlighten  and  mildly  persuade  the 
noble  leaders  of  that  sorely-tried  portion  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Is  is  not  probable  that  a  satisfactory  settlement  of  the  whole 
controversy  could  in  that  way  have  been  reached  without  re- 
course to  dungeons  and  deserts  ?  Is  it  necessary  to  believe  that 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  had  forsaken  His  Church,  because  the  cor- 
rupt ways  of  the  secular  world  had  invaded  it?  Is  it  incon- 
ceivable that  the  various  influences  which  emanated  from  the 
throne  may  have  been  made  to  counterbalance  each  other,  so  that 
out  of  the  conflict  of  errors  and  sins  truth  and  righteousness 


232  TEE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

were  evolved  ?  Maj  we  not  boldly  affirm  that,  had  the  opposition 
of  the  West  been  really  based  upon  sound  principles,  it  would 
never  have  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  despotism,  secular  or  eccle- 
siastical, but  have  struggled  on  to  a  final  victory,  with  the  invinci- 
ble courage  and  ii'repressible  ardor  of  conscious  and  divinely- 
sustained  right  ? 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   THIRD   COUNCIL   OF   CONSTANTINOPLE. 

As  the  serious  believer  views  with  trembling  amazement  the 
utter  indifference  to  the  things  of  an  invisible  world  displayed  by 
many  whose  doom  for  eternity  hangs  upon  a  thread,  so  the  un- 
believing, the  worldly,  the  abandoned,  look  with  profound  con- 
tempt upon  the  zeal  that  sometimes  marks  the  soldier  of  the  cross. 
To  him  who  rejects  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  ridicules  all 
distinctions  between  virtue  and  vice,  it  must  seem  supremely 
ludicrous  that  any  one  should  put  himself  out  of  his  way,  even  so 
much  as  a  single  step,  for  the  visionary  purpose  of  conforming  to 
an  imaginary  law.  To  the  man  who  denies  the  existence  of  a 
God,  it  is  the  height  of  folly  to  dispute  about  His  nature,  and  to 
the  one  who  scoffs  at  the  idea  that  the  Infinite  became  finite,  it  is 
little  short  of  insanity  to  reason  about  the  personality  and  natures 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour.  If  the  Christian  thought  it  right  to 
retort  in  kind  upon  these  men  who,  standing  on  the  icy  pinnacles 
of  their  pride,  look  down  through  pale  moonlight  upon  the  busy 
scene  where  life  and  death  struggle  for  the  eternal  victory,  it 
would  be  easy  for  him  to  turn  around  upon  the  geologist,  for 
instance,  with  a  sneer  at  his  making  so  much  ado  over  the  mark 
of  a  skeleton  in  a  rock,  or  the  astronomer,  with  a  smile  at  his  in- 
fatuation in  traveling  thousands  of  miles  and  spending  months  of 
time  in  order  to  rectify  the  length  of  a  transit  by  a  second  or  two ; 
but  he  has  been  taught  not  to  render  railing  for  railing.  The 
astronomer,  the  geologist,  the  chemist,  the  grammarian  are  not 
chargeable  with  folly  in  expending  their  energies  upon  the  most 
minute  investigations.  *'  De  minimis  non  curat  lex"  {the  law  does 
not  concern  itself  about  liery  small  matters),  is  a  maxim  which 
must  be  very  strictly  construed,  since,  in  the  trial  of  a  cause  or  in 
the  search  after  evidence,  in  governing  a  realm  or  defending  a 
fortress,  in  computing  the  parallax  of  Sirius  or  deciphering  a 


234  THE  CEVRCn  AND  THE  FAITH. 

monolith,  the  very  smallest  error  may  produce  most  disastrous 
consequences.     The  tone  of  mind  which  surveys  with  lofty  pity 
the  historic  battle-fields  of  religion,  sighing  over  the  folly  that 
could  contend  in  such  a  strife,  is  an  ancient  one,  one  honorable 
not  only  for  the  hoariness  of  age,  but  for  the  high  positions  it  has 
filled.     In  quite  ancient  times  it  sat  upon  the  throne  and  wore  the 
imperial  robes,  a  sort  of  ecclesiastical  2Iay<>r  of  the  palace  to  some 
of  the  best  and  most  famous,  as  well  as  to  some  of  the  worst,  sov- 
ereigns of  the  Roman  Decadence.     It  was  natural  that  the  mon- 
arch who  had  to  dispute  with  Chosroes  and  the  chagan  for  the 
possession  of  his  palace,  should  deem  it  of  more  importance  that 
his  subjects  should  present  an  unbroken  fi-ont  to  the  enemy  than 
that  their  faith  should  be  strictly  orthodox.     The  Greek  empire 
was  sun-ounded  with  powerful  foes,  and  the  day  was  gone  by 
when  its  terror  affrighted  the  nations.     The  name  Eoman,  instead 
of  falling  upon  the  ear  with  an  awful  sound,  had  become  con- 
temptible, and  M-as  used  by  the  barbarians  as  the  basest  of  epi- 
thets.    Even   when   the  valor   and   skill  of  Belisarius   and   the 
eunuch  Narses  restored  to  the  Roman  armies  something  of  their 
pristine    renown   and   taught   the   invaders   to   fly  before   their 
awakened  wrath,  their  imperial  master  felt  that  his  triumph  must 
be  short-lived  indeed,  unless  tlie  internal  dissensions  of  his  own 
people  could  be  allayed.     So  Justinian,  more  concerned  for  the 
preservation  and  increase  of  his  own  authority  than  for  the  pro- 
motion of  Ilis  glory  whom  he  acknowledged  as  his  God,  put 
forth  his  decree  of  compromise.     Then  followed  the  weak  and 
impious    Zcno   with    his    Ilenoticon,    as    another    compromise. 
Flushed  with  his  victories  in  the  far  East,  Heraclius  returns  to 
his  palace,  and,  hopeful  of  equally  brilliant  success  in  other  con- 
tests, issues  a  compromise,  which  is  known  as  his  Ecthesis.     The 
hand  of  Constans  II.,  red  with  fratricidal  blood,  writes  a  compro- 
mise that  history  calls  a  Tyjye.     Each  of  these  attempts,  so  far 
from  serving  the  end  proposed  by  their  authors,  only  widened  the 
existing  breach  or  created  a  new  one,  causing  sometimes  a  schism, 
and  sometimes  a  new  sect,  to  spring  up.     The  beatitude  pro- 
nounced upon  peace-makers  was  hardly  needed  to  convice  us  that 
no  nobler  work  can  be  nndertaken  by  mortal  man  than  that  of 
appeasnig  strife.     Yet  it  is  on  all  sides  confessed  that  too  high  a 
price  can  be  paid  for  peace.     It  is  not  to  be  bought  at  the  price 
of  chains  and  slavery,  either  actual  or  metaphorical ;  but  the  war 


TEE  TEIBD   C0U2fCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  235 

of  extermination,  devastation,  and  ntter  ruin,  is  to  be  chosen 
rather,  A  lawful  compromise  between  disputants  may  be  very 
laudable  :  not  so  an  accommodation  which  involves  a  surrender  of 
any  portion  of  the  true  faith.  The  sacred  deposit  was  entrusted 
to  the  custody  of  the  saints  in  order  that  they  should  preserve  it 
pure,  intact,  and  whole,  not  that  they  should  permit  the  enemy 
to  handle  it  and  take  from  it  what  he  chose.  Even  if  the  primary 
duty  of  Christians  were  to  save  souls,  that  would  be  accomplished 
best,  not  by  throwing  away  the  gospel  of  redemption,  nor  by  con- 
senting to  ignore  any  portion  of  it,  but  by  fearlessly  proclaiming 
and  maintaining  the  whole  of  di\nnely-revealed  truth,  even  though 
some  parts  thereof  be  extremely  unpalatable  to  certain  classes  of 
people.  Is  it  not  better  to  alienate  a  class,  than  to  rob  all  suc- 
ceeding generations  of  the  saving  knowledge  which  we  are  bound 
to  transmit  as  perfect  in  all  respects  as  we  received  it  ?  More- 
over, if  we  thought  that  the  salvation  of  the  entire  race  could  be 
achieved  by  the  blotting  out  of  one  single  fact  or  principle,  which 
had  concentrated  upon  itself  the  ineradicable  hostility  of  a  large 
proportion  of  mankind,  even  then  it  would  be  high  treason  against 
the  King  of  Kings  for  the  Church  to  suffer  it  to  be  erased  from 
her  standards  or  passed  over  in  silence  by  her  preachers.  The 
deadly  warfare  between  truth  and  error  admits  of  no  compromise. 
The  heresy  which  next  extensively  troubled  the  Church  M'as 
in  itself  an  attempt  at  compromise.  The  council  of  Chalcedon 
had  decided  that  tliere  exist  in  Christ  two  distinct  and  perfect 
natures,  combined,  without  absorption,  change,  or  fusion,  in  one 
personality.  It  was  hardly  to  be  supposed  that  either  of  these 
natures  remained  quiescent.  Some  quiescence  of  the  divine  na- 
ture was  doubtless  included  in  His  abstaining  from  the  putting 
forth  of  its  energies  in  His  own  behalf  to  relieve  Himself,  for  in- 
stance, from  hunger;  but  that  was  no  more  than  the  restraint 
which  divine  goodness  must  put  upon  itself  whenever  it  permits 
the  innocent  to  suffer :  in  the  abstract,  it  is  hardly  more  conceiv- 
able that  God  should  cease  to  act  than  that  He  should  cease  to 
exist.  As  for  the  human  nature,  that  was  assumed  for  the  very 
purpose  that  it  might  energize.  If,  then,  the  two  natures  were  to 
be  active,  and  they  were  distinct  natures,  it  would  follow  that 
their  activities  must  be  separate.  The  unity  of  individuality  no 
more  involves  the  unity  of  operation  of  the  two  natures  than  the 
unipersonality  of  man  constitutes  breathing  a  function  of  his  soul, 


236  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

or  thinking  a  function  of  his  circulatory  system.  It  will  be  re- 
plied that  man's  thinking  is  a  double  energizing,  and  that  this 
can  be  proved  from  the  fact  that  bodily  disease  disorders  the  mind. 
But  such  an  objection  cannot  be  sustained,  inasmuch  as  the  spirit- 
ual nature  within  man  can  rise  superior  to  almost  eyery  bodily 
aifection,  and  manifest  the  utmost  strength  and  healthfulness  while 
the  poor  frame  lies  emaciated  with  the  ravages  of  fever,  or  racked 
with  intensest  pain.  The  mind  employs  physical  organs  as  its 
servants,  but  does  not  permit  them,  in  the  sense  in  which  we  are 
now  speaking,  to  modify  its  own  action.  Just  as  a  nature  which 
possesses  no  distinctive  qualities  is  no  nature  at  all,  so  qualities 
which  do  not  separately  energize,  are  no  qualities  at  all.  If  two 
natures  are  fused,  entirely  separate  action  is,  of  course,  impossible 
to  them  ;  if  they  are  only  partially  commingled,  the  activities 
that  ensue  are  energizings  of  the  third  somewhat^  as  far  as  the  com- 
mingling extends ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  operation  under 
scrutiny  is  found  to  be  the  conjoint  action  of  two  natures,  it  inev- 
itably follows  that  these  have  ceased  to  be  separate,  and  become 
more  or  less  commixed.  Cannot  two  men  produce  a  result  of 
their  joint  skill,  without  being  run  into  each  other  like  two  streams 
of  molten  metal  poured  into  one  trough?  some  reader  exclaims  in 
surprise.  Of  course  they  can,  but  they  cannot  strike  the  same 
blow  with  two  different  hammers :  they  may  bring  their  hammers 
down  with  equal  strength  upon  the  same  spot,  and  cause  an  aggre- 
gate result ;  but  for  all  that  the  two  sledges  struck  each  its  own 
blow.  In  this  illustration  each  workman  represents  a  nature,  the 
hammers  are  qualities,  and  the  blow  an  energizing:  whence  we 
conclude  that  if  the  energizing  is  single,  so  is  the  quality  which 
produced  it,  and  the  nature  which  lies  behind  the  quality;  and 
if  the  energizing  is  compound,  so  is  the  nature  whence  it  came. 

It  appears  that  a  work  then  in  high  regard,  and  attributed  to 
Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  contained  the  expression  h'epyeia  deav- 
dpiKT]  (a  Theandric  energy  or  operation),  as  predicable  of  Christ. 
A  Theandvic  energy  being,  in  plain  English,  the  energy  of  a  God- 
man,  it  is  evident  that  such  a  phrase  could  be  used  in  regard  to 
Christ,  who  was  the  God-man,  without  meaning  to  imply  that  the 
action  itself  belong'ed  to  both  natures.  "We  are  here  reminded 
of  the  old  dispute  about  the  Theotokos,  and  that  the  epithet,  as 
applied  to  the  Yirgin  Mary,  signified  not  that  she  was  the  parent 
of  the  divine  nature  of  Christ,  but  that  from  her  came  the  human 


THE  TUIRD   COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  237 

nature  of  Iliin  who  is  at  once  man  and  God.  Certain  unwar- 
rantable inferences  were,  however,  drawn  from  the  above  expres- 
sion, and  the  doctnne  invented  that,  although  the  two  natures 
remained  distinct,  their  operations  were  conjoint.  Perhaps  the 
idea  can  be  conveyed  bj  using  the  analogy  of  two  gases,  like  oxy- 
gen and  hydrogen,  which,  upon  being  forced  from  separate  re- 
ceivers through  a  single  stop-cock,  issue  in  combination,  having 
resolved  themselves  into  a  tJiird  somewhat^  which  is  a  mechanical 
mixture  or  a  chemical  compound,  as  the  case  may  be. 

Wliy  the  will  should  have  been  selected  as  the  special  field  of 
dispute  is  a  question  of  some  obscurity,  since,  if  any  operation 
was  theandrie,  all  must  have  been,  and  the  human  and  the  divine 
emotions  and  intellectual  processes  must  have  been  blended,  as 
well  as  the  volitions  of  the  Saviour.  Still,  as  the  will  is  that 
capacity  which  lies  nearest  the  inmost  throne  and  centre  of  indi- 
viduality, and  to  which  moral  responsibility  attaches  itself  most 
firmly ;  and  as  the  Predestinarian  controversy  had  brought  into 
marked  prominence  the  nature,  value,  and  strength  of  the  human 
will,  and  its  relation  to  the  divine,  it  is  not  extraordinary  that  in 
an  age  of  vague  psychology  a  discussion  concerning  the  character 
of  the  theandrie  operations  should  have  revolved  about  the  Will 
of  our  adorable  Lord  as  a  pivot.  Thus  the  distinction  gradually 
arose  between  those  who  believed  in  one  will, — or  Monothelites^ 
as  John  Damascenus  called  them, — and  the  Dyothelites,  or  be- 
lievers in  two  wills. 

As  soon  as  the  controversy  is  narrowed  down  to  the  will  of 
the  Saviour,  it  has  been  greatly  simplified.  It  is  obvious  to  urge 
upon  the  Monothelites  that  their  theory  virtually  removes  all 
meritoriousness  from  His  obedience,  since  that  resides  mainly  in 
the  overcoming  of  the  obstacles  interposed  by  a  rebellious  will, 
and  the  divine  will  of  the  Son  cannot  be  supposed  contrarient  in 
the  slightest  degree  to  that  of  the  Father.  The  will  of  a  sinless 
human  being  may  incline  momentarily,  at  least,  toward  evil, 
though  it  never  yields  to  the  temptation  ;  but  the  will  of  God  the 
Son  cannot  know  a  tendency  to  aberration,  even  as  inappreciable  as 
the  tendency  of  our  sua  to  rush  out  towards  the  orbit  of  J^eptune. 
By  bending  His  human  will  into  a  cheerful  compliance  with  His 
Father's  injunctions,  Christ  could  be  said  to  learn  obedience  by 
the  things  which  He  suffered ;  but  how  His  divine  will,  in  any 
sort  of  combination  whatever,  could  learn  obedience,  we  can  never 


238  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

understand  till  we  comprehend  the  possibility  of  the  All-wise 
increasing  His  store  of  wisdom,  and  the  All-good  improving  in 
virtue.  That  part  of  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  atonement, 
which  requires  a  perfect  obedience  on  the  part  of  our  great  Rep- 
resentative, as  a  compensating  weight  to  be  set  in  the  balances  of 
eternal  justice  over  against  our  disobedience,  is  irreconcilably  hos- 
tile to  a  theory  which  removes  His  operations  so  far  asunder  from 
those  of  ordinary  men  as  to  make  it  no  Jiuman  obedience  at  all, — 
if,  indeed,  it  does  not  quite  rob  it  of  the  very  name  of  obedience. 
Let  him  who  still  wavers  between  two  opinions  contemplate  that 
solemn  scene  on  the  night  of  the  betrayal,  and  listen  to  the  cry, 
"Not  as  I  will,  but  as  thou  wilt." 

Such  was  the  grand  doctrinal  compromise  by  which  it  was 
attempted  to  bring  the  Monophysites  back  into  the  Church.  It 
was  an  attempt  to  accomplish  a  ])hilosophical  impossibility,  to 
express  the  method  of  contact  of  two  separate  natures.  The 
problem  of  contact,  or  of  the  transmission  of  force  from  one  body 
to  another,  has  not  yet  even  the  hope  of  being  solved.  Nothing 
in  nature  is  known  to  touch  absolutely  anything  else.  By  apply- 
ing the  microscope  to  the  densest  bodies,  we  will  discover  that 
their  atoms  are  so  far  from  lying  contiguous  that  they  are  flying 
perpetually  backwards  and  forwards  with  amazing  velocity.  It  is 
not  to  be  thought  that  when  the  caunon-ball  strikes  against  solid 
granite,  any  one  particle  of  the  projectile  really  comes  into  contact 
with  a  particle  of  the  rock  ;  nor  even  that  the  particles  of  air 
which  are  crushed  by  the  awful  concussion  actually  touch  either 
substance.  AVhat,  then,  stops  the  immense  mass  in  its  rapid 
course  ?  We  wait  for  science  to  inform  us.  How  does  the  mind 
act  upon  the  body  ?  How  can  a  physical  chain  of  causes  be  set  in 
motion  by  that  which  is  wholly  immaterial  ?  Let  no  one  rashly 
follow  the  dramatic  precedent  of  vowing  not  to  break  his  fast  till 
he  has  answered  any  one  of  these  and  similar  questions,  lest  he 
should  doom  himself  to  a  worse  fate  than  that  of  a  two-centuries' 
sleep.  Now,  precisely  this  same  problem  of  contact  was  under- 
taken by  the  Monothelites.  In  the  God-man,  a  single  personality, 
coexisted  two  distinct  natures.  Unquestionably  these  natures 
acted  upon  each  other  and  upon  the  personality  to  which  they 
belonged ;  but  how  was  this  done  ?  How  shall  that  personality 
contrive,  as  it  were,  to  shut  oif  the  influence  of  one  nature  while 
it  places  itself  under  that  of  the  other  ?     How,  for  exan)ple,  could 


THE  THIRD   COUNCIL   OF  CONST ANTmOPLE.  239 

the  blessed  Saviour  exclude  from  Hiuiself  His  divine  attributes 
while  as  a  man  he  wrestled  for  man  with  the  Devil  in  the  wilder- 
ness, or  to  such  an  extent  that  He  could  profess  His  ignorance  of 
the  day  of  Judgment  ?  Who  of  sane  mind  can  expect  ever  to 
understand  such  a  mystery  ?  The  facts  are  certain,  that  there  was 
only  a  single  personality,  that  there  continued  to  coexist  in  it  two 
separate  and  unaltered  natures,  and  that  each  of  these  had  its  own 
appropriate  mode  of  operation  ;  but  how  these  facts  are  explaina- 
ble no  one,  we  submit,  need  expect  to  understand  till  he  has  at 
least  pierced  the  secrets  of  his  own  being,  and  informed  an  eager 
world  how  the  spiritual  essence  of  his  own  mind  manages  to  con- 
vey its  impulses  to  the  material  substance  of  his  brain. 

The  first  twelve  years  of  Heraclius's  reign  saw  his  dominions 
gradually  shrink  within  themselves,  till  they  comprised  little  more 
than  the  imperial  city,  only  a  few  maritime  cities  and  provinces 
in  addition  still  acknowledging  his  sceptre.  The  Avars  had  inun- 
dated Thrace  and  dashed  against  the  very  walls  of  Constantinople. 
The  Persians  had  engulfed  Syria,  Palestine,  Egypt,  and  Asia 
Minor,  and  were  now  surging  and  leaping  in  threatening  proxim- 
ity to  the  defenses  of  Chalcedon.  It  seemed  as  though  the  proud 
metropolis  must  be  crushed  beneath  the  encountering  tides,  as  a 
o-allant  ship  is  sometimes  ground  into  fragments  by  the  ice-floes 
of  the  Arctic  seas.  But  her  lord  was  equal  to  the  occasion,  slough- 
ing off  at  once  the  shameful  garb  of  eifeminate  ease,  and  donning 
with  alacrity  the  rough  garments  of  the  warrior.  Taking  counsel 
of  that  lofty  daring  which  is  not  seldom  the  highest  prudence,  he 
left  his  capital  in  the  state  of  siege,  embarked  his  troops  upon  gal- 
leys and  ploughed  back  again  the  furrows  made  by  his  adventur- 
ous keel  when  he  had  sailed  up  the  Hellespont  from  Africa  to 
dethrone  the  tyrant  Phocas.  The  battle-field  of  Issus  once  more 
beheld  a  martial  host.  In  several  engagements  the  royal  hero 
chastised  the  insolence  of  the  invaders,  and  then  established  his 
winter-quarters  on  the  banks  of  the  Halys.  Again  entrusting  his 
forces  to  the  perilous  deep,  Heraclius  transported  five  thousand 
men  to  Trebizond,  and  thence  penetrated  into  the  enemy's  coun- 
try, carrying  everything  before  him  in  his  victorious  march.  In 
a  later  campaign  he  stood  fatigued,  but  triumphant,  on  the  very 
plain  of  ancient  Nineveh,  having,  after  a  most  stubborn  resistance, 
routed  the  vast  army  of  Phazates,  and  possibly  slain  that  general 
with  his  own  hand.     When  at  length  the  emperor  resumed  in  his 


240  TEE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

own  palace  the  robes  of  peace,  although  the  laurels  of  six  glorious 
campaigns  encircled  his  brows,  although  he  could  congratulate 
himself  that  the  brilliant  sunlight  of  Assyria  bad  gleamed  as 
brightlv  upon  his  eagles  as  upon  the  locked  shields  of  the  Mace- 
donian phalanx,  although  Avars  and  Persians  alike  had  disap- 
peared from  the  shores  of  the  Bosporus,  although  the  eastern 
boundary  of  the  empire  had  been  restored,  he  did  ntjt  forget  to 
ascribe  the  success  of  his  arms  to  the  favor  of  the  Lord  God  of 
Hosts.  In  acknowledgment  of  the  goodness  of  Jehovah,  the 
pious  sovereign  visited  Jerusalem  on  a  pilgrimage,  and  restored 
the  true  cross  (as  he  supposed)  to  the  holy  sepulchre.  His  piety 
also  prompted  him  to  seek  new  victories  in  the  theological  field. 
"Why  should  not  the  same  skill,  prudence,  and  courage  which  had 
driven  Chosroes  from  the  suburbs  of  Constantinople,  and  then  from 
his  throne,  and  bestowed  the  inestimable  blessing  of  peace  r.pon 
the  subjects  of  the  Greek  empire,  carry  him  with  equal  applause 
through  the  more  difficult  struggles  of  theological  warfare  ?  Pre- 
cisely because  the  approbation  of  his  own  conscience,  the  loyal 
devotion  of  his  subjects,  and  the  smile  of  Heaven,  which  attend  a 
legitimate  monarch  who  goes  nobly  forth  to  do  battle  against 
overwhelming  odds  in  defense  of  his  realm,  must  be  expected  to 
desert  him  should  he  undertake  to  arbitrate  with  the  strong  arm 
in  the  affairs  of  an  independent  province.  It  is  said  that  his  com- 
ing in  contact  with  the  Nestor ians  in  Persia  caused  him  to  reflect 
seriously  upon  the  policy  which  had  alienated  so  iini)ortant  and 
numerous  a  body  of  Christians  from  the  church  and  empire. 
What  a  ])ity  it  is  that  he  did  not  read  correctly  the  lesson  of  that 
ahenation,  and  learn  from  it  the  folly  and  impiety  of  the  civil 
ruler's  presuming  to  extend  his  sway  into  the  kingdom  of  the 
Lord !  As  it  was,  he  only  resolved  to  be  a  little  more  prudent 
and  sagacious  than  his  predecessors. 

It  is  reported  that  Ileraclius,  during  his  expeditions,  actually 
entered  into  negotiations  with  Monophysite  leaders,  in  the  hope 
of  winning  them  back  into  the  fold  upon  the  basis  of  the  Monoth- 
elite  compromise.  In  626  he  saw  fit  to  consult  Cyrus,  bishop 
of  Phasis,  concerning  the  doctrine  of  a  single  operation  of  the  two 
natures ;  who,  by  a  favorable  answer,  so  thoroughly  established 
himself  in  the  emperor's  good  graces,  that  he  soon  ascended  the 
steps  of  the  Alexandrian  patriarchal  throne.  This  answer,  how- 
ever, had  not  been  given  till  he  had  obtained  from  Sergius  of  Con- 


THE  THIRD   CO  UNGIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  0.il 

stantinople  tlie  assurance  that  bis  predecessor  in  tlie  patriarchate, 
Mennas,  had  spoken  of  "one  will  and  one  life-giving  operation," 
and  that  similar  language  could  be  found  upon  the  pages  of  Cyril 
and  other  orthodox  fathers.  In  G33  Cyrus  congratulated  himself 
upon  having  reconciled  the  Theodosians  by  means  of  a  compro- 
mise extended  through  nine  articles.  Sophronius,  thinking  that 
an  agreement  which  enabled  the  separatists  to  proclaim  that  the 
council  of  Chalcedon  had  gone  over  to  them, — instead  of  their  hav- 
ing gone  over  to  the  council, — was  dangerous  as  well  as  disgrace- 
ful, strove  to  avert  from  the  Church  the  catastrophe  he  dreaded. 
The  earnest  and  tearful  supplications  of  the  learned  monk  drew 
fi'om  the  patriarch  a  proposal  to  refer  the  whole  matter  to  Sergius. 
Being  a  Monothelite,  that  dignitary  was  of  course  disposed  to 
favor  Cyrus,  but  still,  knowing  full  well  the  almost  certain  conse- 
quences of  offending  a  brother  of  the  monastic  confraternities, 
advised  him,  without  changing  even  the  distasteful  seventh  article, 
to  let  the  whole  nuitter  rest  where  it  was,  and  refrain  from  employ- 
ing language  favoring  either  one  will  or  two.  Sophronius  was  driven 
into  a  promise  of  silence  by  a  demand  to  produce  any  explicit 
authority  for  two  operations ;  which  he  was  at  the  time  unable  to 
do, — though  he  is  said  to  have  afterwards  collected  six  hundred 
passages  from  the  fathers.  His  promise  being  considered  by  him 
no  longer  binding  when  he  attained  the  level  of  patriarchal  dignity 
at  Jerusalem,  his  first  official  communication  was  a  labored  and 
able  exposition  of  the  Catholic  faith  in  the  respect  of  its  maintain- 
ing two  operations  and  two  wills  in  Christ,  such  being  the  burden 
of  his  enthronistic  letter.  Sergius,  in  the  search  for  an  ally,  drew 
Honorius  of  Kome  into  the  controversy,  and  succeeded  in  enlist- 
ing that  prelate  on  his  side,  and  so  eventually  bringing  him  under 
anathema  for  heresy.  Notwithstanding  that  the  capture  of  the 
Holy  City  by  the  Arabs  soon  removed  Sophronius  from  this  world, 
a  controversy  had  been  born  which  was  not  easily  to  be  suppressed. 
In  639  Heraclius  entered  the  arena  with  a  decree  which  prohibited 
all  mention  of  two  operations  or  of  one  only,  and  enjoined  all  to 
acknowledge  one  single  will,  inasmuch  as  the  Saviour's  manhood 
never  produced  any  motion  contrary  to  the  determination  of  His 
Godhead.  The  Ecthesis  (as  the  mandate  was  called)  was  worse 
than  dubious,  clearly  advocating  the  new  heresy :  its  reasoning 
also  was  faulty,  since  the  harmonious  action  of  two  wills  by  no 
means  proves  their  identity,  the  one  with  the  other.     Sergius  is 


242  I'SE  CHURCH  AXD   THE  FAITH. 

pronounced  the  real  author  of  tlie  famous  document.  It  obtained 
the  sanction  of  provincial  synods  at  Constantinople  and  Alex- 
andria, but  was  opposed  at  Kome,  and  particularly  by  a  council 
held  under  John  lY.,  to  whom  the  emperor  then  wrote  disclaim- 
ing its  authorship. 

In  641  Ileraclius  exchanged  the  purple  for  a  shroud.  Seven 
months  later  his  grandson,  Constans  II.,  began  a  reign  of  execrable 
tyranny  which,  after  twenty-seven  years,  was  closed  in  a  bath  by 
the  treachery  of  an  attendant.  About  the  time  of  his  accession,  a 
powerful  champion  appeared  upon  the  stage  in  the  person  of  Max- 
imus,  whose  conscientiousness  and  religious  fervor  had  drawn  him 
away  from  an  important  position  at  court  and  a  good  prospect  of  , 
rapid  promotion,  to  a  life  of  seclusion  as  a  monk.  He  was  a  man 
of  fine  abilities  and  admirable  principles,  whose  productions  are 
said  by  Neander  to  deserve  the  high  praise  of  containing  the  ele- 
ments of  a  complete  philosophic  system  of  Christian  doctrine. 
Trembling  for  the  cause  of  orthodoxy,  this  man  resolved  to  draw 
the  sword  in  its  defense.  In  Africa,  he  enters  the  lists  of  argu- 
ment with  the  patriarch  Pyrrhus,  whom  the  revolution  which 
elevated  Constans  had  induced  to  seek  an  asylum  there,  and  com- 
pletely vanquishes  him.  The  disputants  then  repair  to  Rome, 
where  Pyrrhus,  who  had  professed  himself  convinced  by  his  an- 
tagonist, is  not  only  welcomed  to  communion,  but  treated  as  law- 
ful patriarch  of  Constantinople.  One  who  had  shown  himself  so 
pliable  was  not  unlikely  to  bend  again,  whenever  it  should  suit  his 
convenience  to  do  so,  as  it  happened  soon  afterwards,  upon  his 
coming  under  the  influence  of  the  exarch  of  Ravenna.  His  ter- 
givei^ation  exposed  him  to  the  just  indignation  of  Theodore  and  a 
Roman  coimcil,  which  excommunicated  him.  And  now  the  tyrant 
himself  must  step  in  and  issue  a  decree:  he,  this  incompetent, 
cruel,  odious  creature,  must  dictate  to  the  Church  of  God  what  she 
shall  do  under  the  circumstances !  His  Type,  or  Model  of  faith, 
by  commanding  both  parties  to  maintain  unbroken  silence  upon 
the  points  in  dispute,  acknowledged,  by  necessary  implication,  that 
the  scheme  of  his  grandfather  had  proved  a  signal  failure,  and 
testified  to  his  sharing  in  the  strange  notion  of  that  renowned  an- 
cestor, that  the  flame  of  controversy  can  be  quenched  by  clapping 
an  extinguisher  upon  it.  Despots  fall  into  the  same  mistake  when 
they  think  to  make  people  less  restive  under  their  misrule  by  sup- 
pressing freedom  of  speech.     Do  they  forget  that  irritation  of  feel- 


THE  THIRD  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  243 

ing  demands  some  vent,  and  will  have  it  ?  Do  thej  not  know 
that  anger  will  often  evaporate  in  loud  proclamations  of  its  direful 
pm-poses  which,  otherwise,  its  compressed  energies  might  impel  it 
to  accomplish?  Besides,  who  regards  such  prohibitions?  Men 
may  converse  with  bated  breath,  but  thev  will  canvass  all  the 
more  certainly  all  questions  which  are  interdicted,  because  of  their 
very  interdiction.  Moreover,  when  the  forbidden  topic  is  one 
regarded  as  of  vital  importance,  the  injunction  is  peculiarly  aggra- 
vating if  it  seems  to  insult  the  understandings  of  those  who  are 
zealous  partisans  by  virtually  telling  them  that  they  are  quarrel- 
ing about  nothing.  So  the  Type  only  served  to  fan  the  fire,  and 
caused  it  to  flame  up  more  fiercely. 

There  were  not  lacking  men  of  independence,  courage,  and 
self-devotion  to  oppose  the  new  edict ;  foremost  among  whom  was 
Maximus,  that  dauntless  and  tireless  spirit,  who  left  no  means  un- 
tried of  stirring  up  the  faithful  to  do  their  duty  in  the  premises. 
His  energetic  efforts  were  so  successful,  that  the  Roman  pontiff 
was  besieged  with  appeals  to  arouse  himself  in  defense  of  the  dog- 
matic faith.  An  unsatisfactory  correspondence  between  Rome  and 
Constantinople  had  resulted  in  Theodore's  anathematizing  Paul 
by  the  authority  of  a  council,  and  in  Paul's  overturning  the  altar 
of  the  papal  chapel  at  Constantinople,  and  otherwise  insulting  his 
brother  patriarch.  The  Type  went  forth  in  648.  The  next  year 
Theodore  gave  place,  by  death,  to  Martin  I.,  who  immediately 
convoked  the  first  Lateran  council,  so  called  from  being  held  close 
by  the  Lateran  palace,  in  the  "basilica  {or  church)  of  Constan- 
tine."  It  was  no  inconsiderable  gathering,  for  the  archbishop  of 
Ravenna  and  other  bishops  attended  to  the  number  of  one  hun- 
dred and  five.  The  spirit  of  Sophronius  found  utterance  from  the 
lips  of  Stephen  of  Dor,  who,  obedient  to  the  solemn  charge  of  his 
former  superior,  stood  there  to  urge  the  condemnation  of  Monoth- 
elism.  The  Manes  of  that  dead  hero  must  have  been  appeased  by 
the  bold  denunciations  leveled  in  twenty  canons  against  that 
heresy  and  all  who  favored  it.  Clear  testimony  was  borne  to  the 
doctrine  of  two  united  wills  and  two  operations,  and  against  the 
oft  and  easily  perverted  expression  of  "  one  theandric  operation." 
Theodore  of  Paran,  one  of  the  ablest  advocates  of  the  heresy,  our 
old  friend  Cyrus  of  Alexandria,  and  three  patriarchs  of  Xew 
Rome, — Sergius,  Pyrrhus,  and  Paul, — were  included  in  one  gen- 
eral sentence  of  doom,  which   also  reached   to   such  inanimate 


244  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

objects  as  the  "  most  impious  Ecthesis  "  of  Sergius  and  Heracliiis, 
and  the  "most  impious  Type"  of  Paul  and  Constans.  Martin 
took  no  pains  to  smooth  down  the  asperities  of  such  decided 
action,  but  proceeded  to  communicate  its  decrees  bj  letter,  not 
only  to  the  various  bishops  and  patriarchs  who  had  not  been  pres- 
ent at  the  sessions  of  the  council,  but  to  the  sovereign  himself 
It  is  surprising  that  the  rage  which  must  have  inflamed  the  rojal 
bosom  permitted  ^Martin  the  long  respite  of  more  than  three  years, 
especially  when  we  remember  that,  while  the  synod  was  yet  sit- 
ting, an  imperial  mandate  had  already  sent  the  exarch  Olympius  to 
Home,  with  instructions  to  enforce  the  Type  and  dispatch  the 
Pope  to  Constantinople.  For  imexplained  reasons,  Olympius  for- 
bore to  execute  his  orders,  so  that  it  was  not  till  Theodore  Callio- 
pas  had  succeeded  him  that  the  venerable  prelate  was  seized. 

After  soiTowing  over  the  gradual  decline  of  learning  and  piety 
as  exhibited  in  the  history  of  the  three  preceding  general  councils, 
we  feel  the  pleasurable  sensation  of  reviving  hope  as  we  dwell 
upon  the  narrative  of  the  Sixth  and  last,  and  discover  here  and 
there  a  character  not  wholly  unworthy  of  ranking  with  the  fathers 
and  confessors  of  an  earlier  period.  We  cannot,  perhaps,  urge 
much  in  behalf  of  the  proficiency  of  the  disputants  in  theological 
knowledire,  thouirh  Maximus  seems  to  have  been  a  divine  of  whom 
no  age  need  be  ashamed  ;  but  we  are,  above  measure,  rejoiced  at 
finding  more  than  one  champion  whom  danger,  difiiculty,  and 
death  could  not  teach  to  yield,  and  who,  instead  of  contenting 
himself  with  repelling  assaults  made  upon  his  own  person,  sallied 
bravely  forth  in  order  to  l)reak  a  lance  for  any  who  needed  his 
assistance.  The  i^ortli  Africans  of  the  last  century  had  done 
yeoman  service  for  the  great  cause,  but  they  mainly  labored  to 
defend  their  own  entrenchments.  However,  far  be  it  from  us  to 
disparage  such  men  as  Reparatus  and  Facundus.  All  honor  to 
the  noble  band  that  liad  run  the  gauntlet  of  Yandal-Arian  perse- 
cution. Look  now  at  Sophronius.  "We  have  seen  him  ride  forth 
alone  upon  a  perilous  enterprise,  thoughtless  of  self  It  remains 
for  us  to  accompany  the  patriarch  as  he  leads  his  chief  suff'ragan 
to  the  awful  spot  which  witnessed  the  crucifixion  of  the  One  about 
the  nature  of  whose  operations  the  conflict  raged,  and  in  view  per- 
haps of  the  baleful  crescent  which  already  waved  over  Zion,  most 
solemnly  charges  him  to  seek  the  Latin  patriarch,  who  had  so 
often  stood  in  the  breach  against  heresy,  and  never  cease  to  im- 


TEE  TRIED   COUNCIL   OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  245 

portune  him  till  that  error  had  been  condemned  against  which  he 
had  himself  been  contending  so  manfuUj  since  the  day  he  threw 
himself  at  the  feet  of  Cyrus.  That  suffragan  was  Stephen  of  Dor, 
who  thenceforth  seems  to  have  devoted  himself  to  the  task  laid 
upon  him,  and  to  have  constituted  himself  the  champion  of  an 
Idea.  And  why  not  ?  What  grander  spectacle  does  earth  aiford 
than  that  of  a  man  who  sacrifices  himself  joyously  upon  the  altar 
of  an  Idea  ?  All  honor  to  him  who,  despising  ease,  safety,  riches, 
and  pleasure,  turning  resolutely  aside  from  the  glittering  prizes 
held  before  his  eyes  by  ambition,  and  denying  himself  even  the 
sweet  solaces  of  home  and  family  aflection,  enlists  beneath  the 
banner  of  some  true  and  mighty  Idea,  and  goes  down  cheerfully 
to  death  only  grieving  that  Providence  has  not  spared  him  long 
enough  to  behold  the  sure  triumph  for  which  he  longed.  Such  a 
hero  was  Maxiinus,  who  ever  and  anon  looms  up  upon  our  vision  in 
radiant  majesty  as,  Agamemnon-like,  he  speeds  hither  and  thither 
inciting  the  chiefs  to  bold  and  vigorous  effort  ao;ainst  the  foe. 
Surrendering  everything,  he  gives  himself  up  to  the  work,  resolved 
that  heresy  shall  not  overthrow  the  standard  of  the  Cross,  if  his 
best  endeavors  can  avert  such  a  catastrophe.  T\Tiere  dislike  of 
Monothelism  prevails  he  fans  it  into  a  holy  abhorrence,  and  where 
it  has  not  yet  been  lit  he  strives  to  collect  dry  tinder  for  the  spark. 
Careless  of  coldness  and  neglect,  superior  to  hatred  and  defiance, 
he  goes  calmly  on  in  his  pilgrimage,  glowing  with  holy  zeal,  pa- 
tient of  delay,  and  prepared  for  any  fate.  But  the  chief  martyr 
was  he  whom  the  patriarchal  throne  exposed  to  peculiar  odium. 
When  the  new  exarch  arrived  in  Rome  he  found  the  pope  lying 
on  a  sick-bed  in  the  Lateran  church.  There,  surrounded  by  his 
clergy  and  shielded  by  the  sanctity  of  the  altar,  he  heard  his  sen- 
tence of  deposition  from  his  bishopric  and  deportation  to  Con- 
stantinople from  the  lips  of  Calliopas,  who,  after  taking  all  the 
precautions  of  extreme  cowardice  to  guard  against  the  danger  of  a 
popular  uprising,  had  at  last  ventured  to  lead  an  armed  band 
within  the  hallowed  walls.  A  word  from  Martin  would  have 
brought  to  his  side  the  frantic  rage  of  the  populace,  and  doomed 
the  imperial  emissary  to  instant  and  terrible  destruction;  but  that 
gentle-spirited  prelate  rebuked  the  inconsiderate  zeal  of  his  ad- 
visers, declaring  that  he  would  ten  times  rather  see  his  own  blood 
shed  than  that  of  a  single  follower  flowing  in  his  behalf.  At  mid- 
night the  poor  old  man  was  hun-ied  away,  without  the  company 


24:6  THE  CHXTRCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

of  the  friends  who  had  eagerly  accepted  the  general  permission  to 
attend  him,  and  carried  to  the  port;  the  gates  of  Rome  being  there- 
after kept  shut  till  the  vessel  had  sailed,  on  board  of  which  he  had 
been  conveyed.  Throughout  the  protracted  voyage  he  was  treated 
with  unnecessary  rigor,  being  closely  confined  to  the  ship  while 
others  were  refreshing  themselves  on  shore,  and.  during  a  whole 
year's  stay  at  Xaxos  denied  all  the  comforts  that  humanity  would 
have  conceded  even  to  a  hardened  culprit  in  the  forlorn  condition 
of  this  sick  old  man,  no  friends  being  allowed  to  break  in  upon 
the  tedium  of  his  captivity  with  kindly  words  and  loving  sympa- 
thy, and  all  presents  of  such  articles  of  food  as  would  have  tended 
to  restore  his  wasted  strength  being  rejected  with  insults  to  the 
givers.  All  discomforts  of  body  and  humiliations  of  soul  were 
borne  with  meek  resignation  and  heroic  fortitude.  His  letters 
written  at  this  juncture  breathe  the  spirit  of  Christian  patience 
and  trust.  He  survived  these  miseries,  only  to  encounter  greater 
when  once  he  had  reached  the  imperial  city.  Wliat  shall  we  think 
of  a  ruler  who  could  leave  such  a  sufferer  lying  on  deck  through 
the  hours  of  a  long  day  exposed  to  the  jeers  of  the  class  that  fre- 
quents the  wharfs  of  a  great  emporium,  and  then  compel  him  to 
drag  out  weary  months  in  a  dungeon  before  obtaining  a  hearing? 
After  a  trial  which  was  a  mere  mockery  of  justice  and  an  exhibi- 
tion of  detestable  cruelty,  he  was  consigned  to  another  prison.  To 
the  other  miseries  of  his  lot  was  added  that  of  being  paraded  in 
public  as  a  condemned  criminal.  The  old  man's  dignity  did  not 
desert  him  in  any  of  these  trying  scenes.  Whether  ridiculed  by  a 
ribald  populace  or  abused  by  the  officers  of  the  law,  he  never 
ceased  to  remember  that  he  stood  in  a  higher  presence  than  that 
of  man.  While  the  hounds  of  Constans  bayed  around  his  venera- 
ble form  and  dared  to  claim  for  themselves  the  name  of  Christians, 
though  so  feeble  that  his  tottering  knees  scarcely  upheld  his  weight 
even  with  the  support  of  attendants,  his  indomitable  spirit  rose  in 
the  sublimity  of  innocence,  and  cited  his  judges  to  meet  him  before 
the  Eternal  Bar.  At  length  he  was  dismissed  into  exile,  the  in- 
tended sentence  of  death  having  been  commuted,  probably  at  the 
prayer  of  Paul,  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  whose  animosity 
was  not  proof  against  the  solemn  reflections  of  liis  death-bed. 
Bidding  farewell  to  his  few  attendants  with  a  cheerfulness  that 
contrasted  strangely  with  their  tears,  he  was  transported  across 
the  Black  Sea  and  set  ashore  in  the  Crimea.     There  he  passed  the 


THE  THIRD   COUNCIL   OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  247 

short  remaiuder  of  Lis  days  among  barbarians,  under  all  kinds  of 
privation,  waiting  patiently  to  be  freed  from  the  burden  of  mor- 
tality. His  stomach  loathed  the  coarse  and  unaccustomed  fare  of 
the  natives,  but  was  granted  only  the  choice  between  that  and 
starvation,  Neglected  by  his  friends,  who  shrank  from  offending 
the  tyrant  by  extending  a  hand  to  the  wretched  outcast,  he  very 
naturally  grieved  at  this  desertion,  and  gave  vent  to  his  feelings 
in  a  letter  to  one  of  them,  expressing  surprise  that  even  his  own 
clergy  had  forgotten  his  existence.  Abandoned  thus  to  his  loneli- 
ness and  misery,  uttering  no  note  of  repining  louder  than  we  have 
already  listened  to,  the  patient,  cheerful,  heroic  veteran  soon  fell 
asleep,  and  thus  received  a  most  welcome  release  from  the  fetters 
of  a  hopeless  captivity.  Not  to  be  sated,  the  sleuth-hounds  opened 
in  full  cry  upon  one  whose  declining  years  had  only  added  strength 
to  a  name  which  had  long  been  the  very  bulwark  of  orthodoxy. 
They  flew  upon  Maximus  and  his  disciple  Anastasius,  who  for 
more  than  tliirty  years  had  hardly  been  separated  from  each  other, 
dragged  them  down,  flung  them  into  separate  dungeons,  and  then 
sat  howling  for  their  blood.  More  consideration  by  far  was,  for 
some  reason,  shown  this  leader  and  model  of  the  monastic  order, 
every  influence  being  brought  to  bear  in  order  to  extort  such  con- 
cessions that  he  could  be  spared.  Did  his  enemies  really  rever- 
ence his  character,  or  was  their  forbearance  the  result  merely  of  a 
shrewd  calculation  that  to  gain  Maximus  would  be  to  remove  the 
last  prop  of  the  Dyothelites  ?  They  coaxed,  they  flattered,  they 
plead,  they  promised  profusely,  they  threatened  terrible  things. 
Then  they  urged  upon  him  a  formula  of  compromise,  brief  and 
vague,  which  was  not  incapable  of  orthodox  intei^pretation.  Did 
they  expect  to  deceive  Maximus,  and  cajole  him  into  even  appear- 
ing to  countenance  false  doctrine  ?  At  last  the  authority  of  the 
new  pope,  Eugenius,  whose  agents  had  signed  the  temporizing 
formula,  was  cast  upon  him,  under  the  hope  that  his  independ- 
ence would  be  buried  beneath  the  incumbent  mass.  From  below 
came  the  distinct,  though  half-smothered,  voice:  Though  the 
bishop  of  Rome  or  an  angel  from  heaven  preach  any  other  gos- 
pel, let  him  be  anathema.  "What !  exclaimed  his  opponents.  Are 
you  alone  to  be  saved?  and  are  all  others  to  perish? — They  had, 
in  this  question,  taught  theological  disputants  to  hurl  a  missile 
that  was  destined  to  be  a  favorite  one  against  every  independent 
thinker  or  staunch  believer. — His  reply  is  worthy  of  being  com- 


248  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

mitted  to  memory  by  all  who  have  felt,  or  are  likely  to  feel,  the 
sting  of  the  query  :  "  God  forbid  that  1  should  condemn  any  one, 
or  should  claim  salvation  for  myself  only !  But  I  would  rather 
die  than  have  on  my  conscience  the  misery  of  erring  in  any  way 
as  to  the  faith."  He  and  his  companions  were  sent  to  reflect  upon 
their  previous  course  and  future  prospects  at  Bizya  in  Thrace. 
The  expedient  of  exile  also  failing  to  shake  their  indomitable 
courage,  the  wrath  which  had  long  impended,  at  length,  intensi- 
fied by  long  restraint,  burst  upon  them.  Maximus  was  subjected 
to  the  ignominy  of  a  public  scourging  at  Constantinople,  was 
nmtilated  by  the  cutting  out  of  his  tongue  and  the  loss  of  his 
right  hand,  and  then  banished  to  the  country  of  the  Lazians, 
where  he  soon  died,  in  GG2.  Like  indignities  and  sufferings  were 
inflicted  upon  his  conn-ades. 

"What  hope  was  left  for  the  Church  ?  "Who  now  should  bear 
up  the  banner  of  the  truth  ?  Anastasius  taught  his  left  hand  to 
hold  the  pen,  and  his  tonguelcss  mouth  to  articulate  speech,  but 
the  fourth  year  saw  this  redoubtable  knight  give  up  the  contest, 
which  he  had  carried  on  with  efticiency  from  his  place  of  exile  till 
death  called  him  to  peace.  "When  he  dropped  the  baton,  who 
should  take  it  up?  It  was  long  before  that  daring  mortal  showed 
himself  to  the  world.  The  fiteof  Martin  had  intimidated  his  suc- 
cessors, so  that  Eugenius  and  Vitalian,  the  two  next  popes,  did 
not  summon  resolution  enough  to  oppose  Constantinople.  The 
heavens  hung  black  above  the  Church.  The  Monothelites  raised 
the  shout  of  victory,  and  none  sent  back  a  counter-cry.  Had,  then, 
Sophronius  in  vain  committed  that  solemn  trust  to  Stephen  of  Dor  ? 
Had  Maximus  and  Martin  lived,  and  struggled,  and  suffered,  and 
died,  to  so  little  purpose?  Believe  it  not,  ye  that  in  this  genera- 
tion wear  the  mantles  of  those  men  of  God.  Never  yet  did  man 
fight  valiantly  for  the  truth,  or  suffer  steadfastly  for  it,  and  lose 
his  eflforts  ;  not  though  he  stood  the  last  on  the  field  of  strife,  hav- 
ing seen  his  routed  comrades  scattered  to  the  four  winds,  and  him- 
self, disdaining  to  fly,  won  at  the  sword's  point  in  hopeless  battle 
the  death  he  coveted.  The  memory  of  his  heroism  lives  on,  and 
becomes  a  priceless  legacy  to  those  that  follow.  Aye !  And  the 
terror  of  his  name  lives  on,  and  strikes  dismay  on  after  fields  to 
those  who  knew  the  strength  of  his  arm,  and  even  to  those  whose 
infant  ears  di-ank  in  the  tale  of  his  matchless  prowess.  The 
trumpet  of  Maximus  shouted  the  alarm  long  after  the  tyrant  had 


TEE  THIRD    COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  249 

wrenched  it  from  his  grasp,  and  the  pious  firmness  of  the  mar- 
tyred pope  survived  in  bosoms  that  had  once  loved  the  bishop 
they  had  lacked  manliness  enough  to  succor  in  his  hour  of  sore 
need.  Sad  was  the  fate  of  the  two  champions,  and  bitter  the  cup 
that  imperial  cruelty  forced  them  to  drain;  but  what  heart  is 
there  so  poor  as  not  to  envy  them  the  glory  of  such  a  record  as  they 
have  left,  the  immense  advantage  of  having  undergone  such  a 
course  of  discipline,  and  the  boundless  satisfaction  they  must  now 
feel  in  looking  back  and  seeing  what  noble  service  they  were  per- 
mitted to  perform  for  their  Lord  ?  Being  dead,  they  still  lived, 
and  their  memories  cheered  the  brethren  on  to  the  fight. 

The  battle  was  renewed  by  Pope  Adeodatus,  who  took  the 
decided  step  of  separating  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople  from 
his  communion.  In  retaliation,  Theodore,  bishop  of  that  city, 
and  Macarius  of  Antioch,  proposed  to  strike  oflf  of  their  church 
records,  or  diptyc/is,  the  name  of  Yitalian,  the  last  pope  who  had 
been  admitted  upon  their  lists.  But  this  expunging  could  not 
be  attempted  without  the  emperoi^'s  consent,  and  there  then  sat 
upon  the  throne  a  man  of  difi:erent  character  from  the  last  despot, 
his  son  Constantino,  who  manifested  a  sincere  desire  for  the  res- 
toration of  peace.  Though  not  especially  remarkable  for  any 
unusual  qualities  of  soul,  Constantino  Pogonatus  (the  Bearded) 
seems  to  have  been  a  rather  better  ruler  than  the  average  em- 
perors of  that  age,  and  to  have  inclined  generally  towards  the 
side  of  clemency  and  moderation.  If  he  did  stain  his  hands  with 
some  acts  of  cruelty,  the  fewness  of  these  deeds,  and  the  reluc- 
tance with  which  he  approached  the  supposed  necessity  of  mutilat- 
ing his  brothers,  are,  at  least,  refreshing  to  the  mind  that  has  been 
dwelling  upon  the  abominable  transactions  of  the  last  reign.  In 
order  to  heal  the  schism,  he  wrote,  in  678,  a  letter  to  Donus  of 
Rome,  requesting  him  to  send  delegates  to  Constantinople,  to  the 
end  that  a  conference  might  be  held  with  a  view  to  the  adjusting 
of  differences.  Agatho,  who  had  become  patriarch  on  the  death 
of  Donus,  immediately  upon  receipt  of  the  missive  called  a  coun- 
cil, at  which  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  bishops  were  present, 
and  among  them  Mansuetus  of  Milan,  who  was  Primate  of  the 
Lombard  kingdom,  two  Prankish  bishops,  and  also  Wilfrid  of 
York ;  these  four  being  worthy  of  mention  as  not  having  been 
subjects  of  the  empire.  But  one  result  could  be  expected  from 
such  a  council.     The  Latin  Church,  invincibly  hostile  to  change, 


250  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

sought  not  for  truth  amid  the  wranglings  of  metaphysical  discus- 
sions, so  much  as  from  the  calm  testimony  of  tradition,  And  a  col- 
lation of  passages  from  approved  writers  of  earlier  times  ;  and  also 
possessed  far  more  independence  of  spirit  tliau  the  servile  Orien- 
tals. Monothelisni  received  its  certain  sentence.  Agatho  dis- 
patched, thereupon,  two  bishops  and  a  deacon  to  represent  him  at 
the  Bosporus,  and  put  in  their  hands  a  letter  which  was  to  serve 
the  same  purpose,  and  perhaps  win  equal  distinction,  with  Leo's 
celebrated  Tome.     The  council  also  sent  a  delegation. 

Deeming  it  best  to  vary  somewhat  from  his  original  intention, 
Constantino  resolved  to  substitute  for  the  proposed  conference  an 
oecumenical  synod,  or  something  approaching  in  its  nature  to  such 
a  synod.  The  Sixth  General  Council,  which  was  the  Third  held  at 
Constantinople,  and  was  also  called  the  Trullan  from  the  domed 
roof  of  the  room  in  the  palace  which  witnessed  its  sessions,  met  on 
the  7th  of  November,  G80,  and  continued  to  sit  till  the  16th  of 
December,  in  the  year  681.  Opening  with  rather  a  small  attendance 
of  bishops,  it  was  able,  before  its  close,  to  count  up  nearly  two  hun- 
dred. It  was  not  dignified  by  the  presence  of  the  usual  number  of 
patriarchs,  those  of  Jerusalem  and  Alexandria  being  represented  by 
two  presbyters ;  George  of  Constantinople  and  Macarius  of  Antioch 
being  therefore  the  only  ones  who  personally  participated  in  its  de- 
liberations. All  disputes  for  the  presidency  were  obviated  by  the 
emperor's  assuming  that  honor  himself.  His  felicitous  rulings 
perhaps  assisted  greatly  in  giving  this  council  the  higher  tone 
which  distinguished  it  above  some,  at  least,  of  the  preceding  ones. 
The  long  continuance  of  the  synod  seems  to  have  been  necessi- 
tated by  the  thoroughness  of  its  investigations.  The  extant  pro- 
ductions of  orthodox  and  unorthodox  were  ransacked  and  carefully 
studied;  the  first,  in  order  both  to  ascertain  as  precisely  as  possible 
the  mind  of  the  earlier  church  and  to  support  the  view  finally 
determined  upon  with  an  array  of  authorities  as  conclusive  and 
copious  as  might  be ;  and  the  second,  for  the  double  pui-pose  of 
settling  what  exactly  the  Monothelite  doctrine  was,  and  of  identi- 
fying it,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  with  older  heresies.  Among  the 
former  class,  none  were  more  influential  than  those  of  the  grand 
old  hero  of  the  Xicene  period,  if  we  may  form  an  opinion  from 
the  insertion  of  the  name  of  "the  most  wise  Athanasius"  and  the 
commendatory  quotation  of  his  words  in  the  decree  of  the  council. 
All  respect  was  paid  to  the  communications  from  the  West,  the 


THE  THIRD  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  251 

decisions  of  the  Eoman  assembly  being  treated  as  those  of  a  tribu- 
nal of  coordinate  jurisdiction,  which  were  not  to  be  rejected  nor 
disregarded  unless  they  could  be  conclusively  demonstrated  to  be 
erroneous  or  ill-advised :  this  was  surely  a  great  concession. 

There  occurred  at  the  fifteenth  session  a  very  curious  incident, 
which,  besides  exposing  some  of  the  weak  points  of  human  nature, 
may  also  be  useful  to  us  as  indicating  the  probable  results  of  hav- 
ing recourse  to  the  expedient  of  a  "prayer-gauge,"  according  to  the 
suggestion  of  a  modern  professor.  It  must  have  been  an  interest- 
ing spectacle  which  was  afforded  in  the  court  of  the  public  bath, 
when  the  dignified  ecclesiastics  assembled  around  a  silver  bier,  on 
which  lay  a  corpse  with  a  Monothelite  creed  on  its  breast,  and 
stood  for  an  hour  or  two,  expectant,  while  an  aged  monk  whis- 
pered in  its  ear.  And,  naturally  enough,  the  adherence  of  the 
defeated  Polychromius  to  his  error,  notwithstanding  that  he  had 
himself  proposed  the  test,  was  no  less  persistent  than  the  dead 
man's  slumber.  Not  put  out  of  countenance  even  by  a  failure  wit- 
nessed by  the  prelates,  the  highest  officers  of  the  state,  and  a  vast 
concourse  of  people,  and  so  palpable  that  he  himself  was  obliged 
to  acknowledge  the  discomfiture,  he  held  his  faith  unshaken 
through  a  storm  of  popular  clamor  anathematizing  the  new  Simon. 
Tet  the  man  had  had  the  assurance  to  ask  the  council  to  promise 
a  change  of  its  belief  in  the  event  of  his  raising  the  lifeless  body  ! 
It  may  have  been  something  better  than  superstition  that  induced 
the  synod  to  engage  in  this  experiment,  for  the  recoil  of  the  rash 
attempt  upon  the  one  who  should  make  it  would  be  sure  to  carry 
popular  favor  over  to  the  side  of  the  Dyothelites. 

The  decision  that  was  reached  after  so  many  months  of  labori- 
ous study  and  sustained  argumentation  approved  the  theory  of  iivo 
natural  operations  and  two  natural  wills,  the  chief  quahfication  of 
this  view  being  that  the  two  wills  never  came  into  collision,  the 
human  will  always  acting  when  the  humanity  was  called  into 
activity,  but  never  moving  out  of  harmony  with  the  divine.  This 
proposition,  however,  is  not  to  be  understood  as  laying  down  that 
there  never  were  in  the  breast  of  our  Saviour  any  incipient  mo- 
tions towards  rebellion,  for  such  tendencies  or  involuntary  de- 
sires are  not  acts  of  the  will  in  any  sense.  Whether  these  were 
present  in  Christ  is  a  question  which  the  council  did  not  attempt 
to  solve,  wisely  refraining  from  a  discussion  which  is  impossible 
of  solution,  and  can  only  be  very  imperfectly  illuminated  by  the 


252  TEE  CEURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

light  of  those  passages  of  the  Xew  Testament  which  teach  that  He 
was  susceptible  of  temptation.  How  a  soul  can  be  tempted  which 
is  unconscious  of  the  faintest  disposition  to  transgress,  is  not  ap- 
parent to  the  ordinary  intellect;  but,  passing  by  that  obscure 
topic,  the  congregated  fathers  confined  themselves  to  the  declara- 
tion that  the  positive  volitions  of  that  perfect  human  mind,  the 
decided  acts  by  which  it  controlled  His  human  organism,  were 
always  in  entire  accord  with  the  movements  of  the  divine  will. 
By  way  of  illustration,  they  are  not  to  be  understood  as  telling 
us  that  Christ  experienced  no  momentary  longing  to  obey  the 
tempter,  and  convert  the  stones  into  a  substance  capable  of  ap- 
peasing His  gnawing  pangs,  but  merely  that  He  admitted  such  a 
craving  to  continue  not  one  instant  af\er  His  will  could  be  brought 
to  bear  upon  it;  nor  that  He  felt  no  shrinking  from  draining  His 
appointed  cup,  no  desire  to  escape  from  the  awful  fate  of  cruci- 
fixion, but  only  that  He  held  such  emotions  under  control,  and 
never  allowed  His  will  to  ally  itself  with  them.  Still,  on  the  other 
side,  the  divine  will  never  overpowered  the  human,  nor  used  it  as 
a  mere  instrument ;  but  the  latter  energized  independently,  and, 
BO  energizing,  harmonized  with  the  former.  Such  a  definition  of 
faith  could  not,  of  course,  be  reached  by  searching  authorities 
which  came  into  existence  before  this  dispute  was  begun,  but  it 
had  to  be  attained  by  careful  process  of  reasoning  based  upon  au- 
thorities as  a  groundwork.  That  logic  had  to  construct  the  edifice, 
is  no  proof  that  the  writings  of  the  fathers  and  the  decisions  of 
councils  were  useless ;  nor  can  any  one  suppose  them  useless  who 
does  not  expect  a  superstructure  to  support  itself  in  air,  entirely 
clear  of  the  ground. 

It  is  worthy  of  especial  remark  that  a  successor  of  St.  Peter, 
an  heir  (as  we  are  told)  to  the  infallibility  of  that  Prince  of 
Apostles,  was  included  by  name  in  the  anathema  of  the  Sixth 
General  Council.  As  having  followed  the  opinions  of  the  Mo- 
nothelites,  and  sanctioned  their  impious  doctrines,  a  distinct  con- 
demnation was,  after  an  extended  examination  of  his  letters,  pro- 
nounced upon  Pope  Honorius.  This  sentence  Leo  II.,  who  had 
succeeded  Agatho  before  the  return  of  his  legates,  not  only  fully 
ratified,  but  sought  to  have  approved  by  his  brethren  throughout 
the  West. 

Thus  it  appears  that  Sophronius,  Maximus,  and  Martin  had 
not  struggled  uselessly.     Instead  of  Monothelism  gaining  the  day, 


THE  THIRD  COUNCIL   OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  253 

it  now  seemed  to  be  hastening  towards  extinction.     Macarius  of 
Antioeb,  it  is  true,  had  persisted  in  adhering  to  heretical  opinions, 
and  been  east  out  with  his  disciple,  Stephen ;  but  the  Saracen  con- 
quests had  rubbed  him  of  the  importance  which  might  have  made 
his  see  the  stronghold  of  a  new  sect.     Gradually  the  decrees  of  the 
last  General  Council  worked  their  way  into  universal  approval, 
but  not  without   encountering   some   obstacles.     The  pendulmu 
oscillated  several  times  before  it  reached  a  perpendicular.    A  fresh 
dispute,  which  broke  out  between  the  two  great  patriarchs  during 
the  reign  of  Justinian  II.,  retarded  the  complete  pacification  of  the 
Church.     It  was  caused  by  the  action  of  the  supplementary  council 
to  the  fifth  and  sixth, — known  by  the  extraordinary  title  of  Quini- 
sext, — in  passing  some  canons  obnoxious  to  the  Latin  patriarch 
and,  perhaps,  enacted  almost  for  the  express  purpose  of  humbling 
his  see  after  the  triumph  it  had  won  under  Agatho.    Sergius  abso- 
lutely refused  to  aflSx  his  name  in  the  place  which  had  been  left 
for  it  on  the  paper  containing  the  one  hundred  and  two  canons, 
immediately  after  the  imperial  signature  and  before  those  of  the 
four  Eastern  patriarchs.     When  the  protospathary,  Zacharias,  was 
bidden  to  seize  the  pope  and  send  him  to  Constantinople,  an  upris- 
ing of  the  populace  reduced  that  ofiicer  to  the  necessity  of  seeking 
protection  from  the  proscribed  prelate ;  and  a  general  revolt  drove 
Justinian,  about  the  same  date,  into  exile.     After  ten  years  spent 
in  wandering  from  tribe  to  tribe  and  plotting  to  regain  his  lost 
throne,  the  mutilated  sovereign  returned  to  fulfill  the  threat  he 
had  uttered  in  an  awful  hour  when  his  trembling  companions  be- 
sought him  to  save  the  ship  and  propitiate  Heaven  by  forgiving 
his  enemies.     Then  the  tyrant  summoned  Constantino  before  him. 
Well  might   the  Roman   patriarch   have  hesitated  to  obey.     A 
neighboring  prelate,  Felix  of  Eavenna,  had  been  crushed  by  the 
fangs  of  the  royal  tiger.     To  have  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the 
embittered  monarch  was  to  have  embraced  the  rack.     Constan- 
tino went,  looked  the  savage  beast  fearlessly  in  the  eye,  and  re- 
turned, not  only  unscathed,  but  rewarded  with  a  confirmation  of 
all  the  privileges  of  his  see.     Next  ensued  a  temporary  triumph 
for  the  heretical  faction  while  the  throne  was  occupied  by  a  fanat- 
ical Monothelite,  who  refused  to  enter  his  palace  until  the  picture 
of  the  Sixth  Council  had  been  torn  down.     In  conformity  with  a 
promise  he  had  once  made  to  a  hermit  who  predicted  his  elevation, 
this  ruler  did  everything  witliin  his  power  to  abrogate  that  council. 


254  TEE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH 

It  is  at  once  instructive  and  distressing  to  find  that  a  command  of 
Bardanes  to  subscribe  a  Monothelite  creed  was  generally  obeyed 
througbout  tbe  East ;  instructive,  as  indicating  tbat  tlie  compro- 
mise party  was  still  possessed  of  some  strength ;  and  distressing,  as 
betokening  a  lamentable  lack  of  fidelity  on  the  part  of  those  who 
were  honestly  orthodox  in  their  beliefs.  Rome,  however,  boldly 
refused  to  submit,  and  rose  in  an  outbreak  which,  but  for  the  in- 
terposition of  Constantine,  would  have  ripened  into  a  revolt.  In 
less  than  two  yeai*s  Bardanes  Philippicus  was  hurled  from  his  seat : 
he  puUed  down  Monothelism  with  him.  John,  a  most  facile 
prelate,  having  been  forced  into  the  patriarchal  throne  by  Philip- 
picus, and,  eager  now  to  secure  the  favor  of  a  catholic  sovereign, 
Anastasius  II.,  declares  that  he  has  always  been  a  true  believer  at 
heart,  and  most  submissively  entreats  to  be  received  into  fellow- 
ship by  the  pope.  Thus  died  the  heresy  of  a  single  will  and  one 
operation  in  our  blessed  Saviour. 

There  remained  onl}'  a  small  remnant  which,  entrenched  in  the 
fastnesses  of  Libanns  and  Anti-Libanus,  and  revering  the  abbot 
Maron  as  its  spiritual  father,  maintained  its  independence  through 
the  lapse  of  ages  and  the  crash  of  governments  till  the  time  of  the 
Crusades.  In  the  twelfth  century  the  submission  of  the  Maronites 
to  the  Latin  patriarch  of  Constantinople  extinguished  the  last 
ember  of  Monothelism. 


CHAPTER  Xiy. 

THE   ICONOCLASTIC    CONTROVEEST. 

We  have  now  studied  the  great  controversies  which  gave  rise 
to  the  six  general  councils,  and  seen  the  doctrinal  system  of  the 
Church  slowly  assuming  symmetrical  form,  as  it  developed  through 
the  strenuous  efforts  it  was  obliged  to  put  forth  in  struggling 
against  different  forms  of  heresy.  "We  have,  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
satisfied  ourselves  that  these  synods  were  truly  oecumenical,  com- 
manding the  assent  of  all  Christians  to  the  dogmas  propounded 
by  them ;  and  also  charged  our  memories  with  the  substance  of 
their  decrees.  Thus  far  the  great  Catholic  Cliurch  has,  for  the 
most  part,  maintained  its  corporate  unity,  but  soon  it  will  snap 
asunder  at  a  median  line  marked  out  by  imperialism  and  betrayed 
to  view  by  the  schisms  that  have  already  attracted  our  attention 
between  the  two  Homes.  As  a  potent  agency  in  bringing  about 
that  lamentable  disruption,  the  long-continued  and  violent  dispute 
concerning  the  lawfulness  and  obligation  of  worshiping  images 
must  now  pass  in  review  before  us. 

Christianity  was  originally  given  to  a  race  strongly  prejudiced 
against  pictures  and  images  of  all  kinds.  In  order  to  protect  the 
Jews  from  their  inveterate  tendency  towards  the  worship  of  false 
gods,  it  had  been  necessary  to  prohibit  all  representations  of  things 
in  heaven,  and  things  on  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth.  Yet, 
that  the  spirit  of  Judaism  was  not  hostile  to  art,  is  evident  from 
the  descriptions  which  have  been  preserved  of  the  different  places 
of  worship  from  the  portable  tabernacle  to  Herod's  gorgeous 
structure,  and  from  the  fact  that,  when  in  ancient  times  a  power- 
ful monarch  proposed  to  himself  to  accomplish  a  marvel  of  archi- 
tecture, his  highest  aim  was  to  surpass  the  temple  at  Jerusalem. 
IS'or  can  the  law  against  images  be  literally  construed  in  view  of 
the  elaborate  carvings  which  kept  before  the  eye  in  the  pomegran- 
ate and  the  lily  emblems  of  fruitfulness  and  purity,  of  the  twelve 


256  TEE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

massive  oxen  which  supported  the  molten  sea  of  Solomon's  temple, 
and  of  the  cherubim  whose  wings  overshadowed  the  mercy-seat, 
all  of  these  ornaments  having  been  carved  and  fashioned  accord- 
ing to  directions  given  by  Jehovah  Himself.  At  the  dawn  of 
Christianity  Pharisaic  overstrictness  had  attached  such  glosses  to 
the  written  word  that  even  the  most  innocent  production  of  artistic 
skill,  however  far  removed  from  danger  of  attracting  to  itself  im- 
proper reverence,  would  not  have  been  tolerated  for  a  moment. 
The  Jews  who  were  early  converted  to  the  Gospel  retained  their 
ancient  repugnance  to  images  of  every  description,  and  the  prose- 
lytes from  other  religions  doubtless  felt  a  strong  revulsion  against 
all  that  savored  of  the  idolatrous  practices  which  they  had  re- 
nounced. The  early  Church  was  not  inclined  to  look  kindly 
upon  idolatry,  or  upon  anything  that  would  tend  in  that  direc- 
tion. Having  clearly  before  her  eyes  in  corrupt  Corinth,  in  ef- 
feminate and  luxurious  Ephesus,  in  profligate  Home,  and  every- 
where in  Asia,  Syria,  Egypt,  or  Italy,  plain  proofs  of  the  debasing 
and  debauching  influences  of  heathen  rites  and  polytheistic  doc- 
trines, and  embarked  in  a  tremendous  struggle  with  the  innumer- 
able foiTns  of  vice  which  grew  beneath  their  shade,  she  was  not 
likely  to  permit  her  children  to  eat  the  food  that  had  been  offered 
to  idols,  to  bow  down  before  those  idols,  or  even  to  possess  repre- 
sentations of  any  sort  that  might  lead  them  back  into  their  former 
paths.  Many  of  the  early  Christians  were  decidedly  over-rigid  in 
this  matter.  The  narrow-mindedness  of  man  clings  to  him  even 
after  he  has  been  regenerated,  so  that  some  of  the  greatest  and 
most  illustrious  of  the  fathers  arrayed  themselves  against  science, 
and  denounced  as  inventions  of  the  devil  theories  which  are  now 
accepted  by  all  enlightened  men,  whether  believers  or  unbelievers. 
What  would  St.  Augustine  say,  should  he  now  revisit  earth  and 
enter  a  dissecting-room  in  one  of  our  medical  colleges  ?  Would 
he  still  denounce,  with  all  the  vehemence  of  his  rhetoric,  such 
desecration  of  the  divine  image?  If  he  did,  his  anathemas  would 
provoke  a  smile  among  the  most  reverential.  It  is  a  sad  truth, 
the  confession  of  which  is  being  gradually  extorted  from  those 
who  name  themselves  by  the  Ever-blessed  Name,  that  the  leading 
minds  of  the  Church  have  often  been  bitterly  opposed  to  the 
progress  of  thought.  There  is  a  certain  tendency  in  elevated 
piety  to  look  down  with  pity,  if  not  with  contempt,  upon  what 
appears  to  it  the  trivial  affairs  of  this  world.     Engrossed  with  the 


THE  ICONOCLASTIC  C0NTR0VEB8Y.  257 

contemplation  of  eternal  verities,  man  scorns  the  fleeting  things 
of  time,  sees  no  importance  in  the  classification  of  a  flower  or  the 
computation  of  the  mean  distances  of  the  planets ;  cares  naught 
for  an  instrument  wliich  afibrds  the  spectrum  of  light  that  ema- 
nates from  a  point  no  more  than  forty  trillions  of  miles  away,  and 
fails  to  discover  any  interest  in  researches  that  are  revealing  the 
history  of  our  globe  for  incalculable  ages  before  Adam  was  created ; 
would  prefer  that  a  man  should  commit  all  the  crimes  in  the  cat- 
alogue rather  than  maintain  that  the  earth  is  round,  that   he 
should  mutilate  all  his  brothers  and  near  kinsmen  rather  than 
impiously  interfere  with  divine  Providence  by  inoculating  for  the 
small-pox,  and  that  he  should  burn  a  library  rather  than  invent 
the  printing-press.     A  similar  hostility  was  displayed  against  art. 
Language  can  be  discovered  in  the  ancient  Fathers  strongly  con- 
demnatory of  all  such  trifling  as  the  work  of  sculptor  or  painter 
seemed  to  their  transcendental  imaginations.     It  was  by  no  means 
the  austere  Tertullian  alone  who  denounced  all  adornment  or  or- 
namentation as  unchristian.     But  fairness  requires  that  we  should 
ascribe  this  blind  opposition  against  both  science  and  art,  not  to 
religion,  least  of  all  to  the  Christian  religion,  but  to  that  unfor- 
tunate tendency  of  human  nature  in  its  fallen  condition  which 
drives  it  always  towards  the  poles.     The  corporate  Church  never 
committed  itself  to  such  a  folly,  and    Christianity  was    far  too 
grand  and  broad  a  faith  to  fear  any  kind  of  truth,  or  think  that  its 
spread  could  be  otherwise  than  favorable  to  its  own,     Christianity 
hostile  to  Love  of  the  Beautiful !     How  can  that  be  when  it  dis- 
closes to  our  adoring  love  the  compassionate  scheme  of  redemp- 
tion, when  it  paints  for  us  the  Tvonderful  character  of  Jesus  of 
Kazareth,  when  it  teaches  us  how  to  flll  our  own  lives  with  the 
same  purity,  and    righteousness,   and   loveliness  of  self-sacrifice 
which  made  His  the  one  perfect  life  that  the  world  will  ever  have 
known  I     Beauty  does  not  belong  to  the  kingdom  of  darkness  and 
evil :  it  is  a  part  of  the  very  nature  of  light  and  goodness.     What 
is  ugly  but  filth,  and  foulness,  and  deceit,  and  selfishness,   and 
pride?     What  is  beautiful  but  purity,  and  cleanliness,  and  truth, 
and  unselfishness,  and  humility  that  imitates  the  mind  of  Him 
who  left  His  own  radiant  throne  in  order  to  take  upon  Him  the 
form  of  a  servant  ?     Must  religion  be  held  to  be  antao-onistic  to 
love  of  the  beautiful  because  it  teaches  that  beauty  of  the  soul  is 
superior  to  that  which  consists  in  regularity  of  outline  and  skillful 


258  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH 

blending  of  colors  ?  Yet  this  must  be  the  substance  of  any  rational 
argument  against  it  on  that  score.  How  unjust  is  such  an  accusa- 
tion against  the  religion  of  Him  whose  blessed  words  clothed  the 
lily  of  the  field  with  additional  glory,  and  in  the  light  of  whose 
Gospel  the  grass  that  so  soon  withers  away  and  is  bunied  mellows 
into  a  softer  verdancy  !  Let  Manichaeism  spread  its  gloomy  pall 
over  the  fair  face  of  nature,  and  Montanism  mar  its  beauteous 
shapes  with  the  ruthless  hammer  of  a  repulsive  theory,  but  for  the 
disci])le  of  Christ  let  all  the  earth  glow  with  the  hope  of  a  coming 
redemption ! 

The  divinely-implanted  sentiment  that  feeds  upon  the  beauti- 
ful forced  its  way  gradually  through  the  obstructions  thrown  in  its 
path  by  the  circumstances  of  the  primitive  Church,  and  dared  at 
last  to  claim  the  right  of  seeking  its  appropriate  nouri;?hment  in 
the  external  and  sensuous,  as  well  as  in  the  internal  and  supersen- 
suous,  world.  This  change  was  inevitable  when  once  the  Church 
had  brought  to  her  feet  Grecian  learning  and  Grecian  genius. 
Could  the  countrymen  of  Phidias  and  Praxiteles  forget  the  tradi- 
tions and  instincts  of  twenty  generations?  The  same  impulse 
which  had  filled  the  cities  of  the  empire  with  statues  of  gods  and 
goddesses,  marble  embodiments  of  ideal  physical  manhood  and 
womanhood,  still  lived.  It  may  have  drawn  some  sustenance 
from  such  relics  of  ancient  art  as  had  lingered  behind  when 
heathenism  was  banished  from  the  basilicas.  However  that  might 
be,  it  lived,  and  was  destined  to  enjoy  a  period  of  greater  vigor. 
"What  power  could  have  withheld  the  true  artist,  in  whose  bosom 
glowed  at  once  the  two  fires  of  genius  and  devotion,  from  exert- 
ing his  talents  upon  sacred  subjects?  Was  it  not  inevitable  that 
the  first  painter  of  marked  ability  and  genuine  piety  should  give 
the  M-orld  a  picture  of  the  Baptism,  the  Last  Supper,  the  Cruci- 
fixion, Hesurrection,  Ascension,  of  any  or  all  of  these?  What 
brush  or  chisel  held  by  fingers  that  had  handled  the  Bread  of  Life 
could  be  restrained  even  by  reverence  from  the  impossible  attempt 
of  delineatinsr  the  sacred  countenance  of  Christ  ?  Shall  the  false 
and  shallow  prejudices  of  the  age  smother  do^vn  the  aspiring 
flame  ?  Not  so,  for  there  is  that  in  true  genius  which  bursts  all 
trammels,  recognizes  the  truth  in  the  midst  of  all  counterfeits, 
and  dares  the  worst  in  behalf  of  what  it  feels  to  be  noble,  and 
high,  and  good.  The  reverential,  loving  heart  yearns  to  dedicate 
its  best  to  the  service  of  its  Lord.     Has  it  a  remarkable  gift,  the 


THE  ICONOCLASTIC  CONTROVERSY.  259 

ability  to  do  auglit  better  than  its  fellows,  the  power  of  awaken- 
ing others  to  higher  thoughts,  and  loftier  aspirations,  and  mightier 
achievements  ?  It  will  wish  to  promote  thereby  the  glory  of  Him 
from  whom  it  comes.  Can  such  a  wish  be  wrong?  Can  it  be 
wrong  to  make  proper  use  of  any  capability  the  Almighty  has 
bestowed  upon  us  ?  Let  the  narrowness  of  bigotry  deny  to  such 
a  spirit  the  right  to  follow  out  the  bent  of  its  yearnings,  it  will, 
conscious  of  their  derivation  from  above,  indulo-e  them  notwith- 
standing  the  prohibitory  edicts ;  or  else  it  will  turn  aside  with  a 
groan  into  other  paths,  and  live  a  life  from  which  the  glory  has 
been  stolen.  If  the  Manichsean  notion  were  true  that  different 
deities  formed  the  external  and  the  internal,  then  might  a  theory 
be  believed  which  sets  the  one  in  antagonism  to  the  other ;  but  as 
long  as  man  is  convinced  that  the  same  hand  framed  the  seen  and 
the  unseen,  the  temporal  and  the  abiding,  the  material  and  the 
spiritual,  so  long  will  his  inmost  soul  rebel  against  every  theory 
which  forbids  it  to  recognize  and  admire,  not  only  the  good,  but 
the  true  and  the  beautiful,  wherever  found.  And  if  it  be  right 
to  admire  the  handiwork  of  the  Creator  in  mountain,  and  valley, 
and  stream,  in  tree,  and  shrub,  and  floweret,  in  the  cheerful  sun- 
slime,  the  snow-white  cloud-peak,  and  the  brilliant  mantle  of  the 
evening ;  if  it  be  right  to  let  the  fond  eye  linger  upon  the  guile- 
less face  of  innocent  childhood,  upon  the  gentle  countenance  of  true 
womanhood  whose  purity,  and  love,  and  trust  envelop  it  in  a  radi- 
ance before  which  even  its  exquisite  perfection  of  outward  beauty 
is  forgotten,  or  upon  the  robust  form  and  clear-cut  features  of 
thorough  manhood  that  delights  in  toil  and  danger,  that  can 
exchange  blow  for  blow  with  the  strongest  and  fiercest  and  yet 
tame  its  strength  to  the  tenderness  of  a  mother  towards  her  sick 
babe ;  can  it  be  wrong  to  imitate  these  on  canvas  or  in  marble  ? 
Is  it  wrong  to  reproduce  them  in  the  word-pictures  which  the 
glowing  imagination  of  the  Oriental  orators  knew  so  well  how  to 
paint  ?  But  perhaps  it  is  only  objectionable  to  set  these  represen- 
tations before  the  eye  of  the  worshiper  in  the  public  sanctuary  or 
private  shrine,  whither  he  resorts  to  pay  his  devotions.  Extraor- 
dinary idea  !  Why  should  all  that  appeals  to  the  love  of  the  beau- 
tiful through  the  eye  be  banished  from  our  temples?  Is  the  ear 
so  much  more  sacred  than  all  the  other  senses  that  it  alone  de- 
serves to  be  the  handmaid  of  devotion  and  religious  instruction  ? 
If  those  who  throng  our  vast  churches  are,  many  of  them,  too  igno- 


260  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH 

rant  to  read  or  too  dull  to  comprehend  what  they  read,  if  they  can 
take  into  their  comprehensions  and  memories  at  a  single  glance 
by  means  of  a  pictorial  representation  scenes,  histories,  and  facts, 
which  otherwise  could  hardly  have  been  so  well  impressed  upon 
them  by  a  yeai-'s  laborious  instruction,  why  should  they  not  be 
taught  by  the  one  method  which  seems  efficacious  ?  If  the  heart 
can  be  assisted  in  its  efforts  to  rise  heavenwards  by  a  massive 
column  or  ornate  capital,  by  statue  of  saint  and  martyr,  or  by 
elaborate  design  well  wrought  out  in  brilliant  coloring  upon 
window-glass,  wall,  or  ceiling,  why  should  it  be  denied  such 
helps  ?  See  the  inconsistency  of  the  preacher  who  will  sunnnon 
all  the  resources  of  the  rhetorical  art,  and  appeal  to  the  imagina- 
tion with  a  fervid  eloquence  which  makes  it  see  what  he  holds 
before  it  as  plainly  as  though  that  were  actually  depicted  to  the 
sight, — and  will  do  all  this  perhaps  in  a  diatribe  against  embellish- 
ment of  God's  house ! 

To  an  educated  person  there  is  almost  no  danger  in  the  utmost 
profusion  of  pictures  and  images.  Taught  to  observe  mental  proc- 
esses, and  distinguish  between  the  ideal  and  the  real,  he  is  not 
likely  to  confound  the  portrait  or  the  statue  with  the  man  of 
whom  it  is  the  representation.  With  .the  undisciplined  mind  it  is 
far  different.  Just  as  the  savage  believes  in  some  mysterious  con- 
nection between  the  absent  fiiend  and  the  likeness  he  holds  in  hia 
hand,  and  cannot  be  persuaded  that  the  latter  is  not  part  and  par- 
cel of  the  former,  so  the  unlettered  multitude  is  ready  to  attach 
mysterious  virtue  to  the  image  of  a  saint,  and  then  to  regard  it  as 
in  some  way  inhabited  by  the  departed  spirit.  Nor  is  the  highest 
talent  altogether  exempt  from  the  same  pernicious  tendency. 
Gazing  with  intense  and  lingering  love  upon  the  beautiful  face  of 
nature,  many  a  man  has  come  to  fancy  that  he  held  communion 
with  the  spirit  of  the  personilied  material  object  of  his  affection  ; 
very  much  as  the  ancient  sage  created  a  nymph  to  sanction  the 
code  of  laws  over  which  he  had  pondered  deeply  by  the  bubbling 
fountain.  In  the  same  way,  it  may  not  be  impossible  for  the 
ardent  teniperjiment  of  one  who  is  imbued  with  the  artistic  spirit 
to  endow  the  inanimate  stone,  or  the  product  of  white  lead  and 
various  pigments,  with  a  fictitious  spiritual  existence.  As  long, 
however,  as  pictures  cover  walls  and  windows  merely,  and  images 
remain  in  niches  removed  from  possibility  of  near  approach,  their 
free  use  is  not  calculated  to  prove  very  harmful.     The  peril  is  not 


THE  ICONOCLASTIC  CONTROVEliST.  261 

in  allowing  these  representations,  but  in  permitting  the  perform- 
ance of  adoration  before  them.  The  moment  a  man  bemns  to 
repeat  his  prayers  before  any  image  or  picture,  although  he  may 
argue  that  he  never  had  a  thought  of  addressing  them  to  the 
material  substance,  and  that  he  uses  the  representation  only  to 
assist  his  devotion,  he  is  in  danger.  If  the  Second  Commandment 
binds  the  Christian  conscience,  then  is  such  an  act  forbidden  as 
idolatrous.  The  common  plea  that  the  worship  is  paid,  not  to  the 
idol,  but  to  the  deity  of  which  it  is  a  symbol,  or  of  which  it  serves 
as  a  reminder,  would  excuse  all  idolatry,  since  few  of  the  most 
degraded  ever  sink  so  low  as  to  lose  all  sense  of  the  distinction 
between  the  idol  and  the  god.  The  Almighty  will  not  allow  Him- 
self to  be  confounded,  even  in  the  smallest  degree,  with  wood,  and 
stone,  and  paint,  the  work  of  men's  hands  and  the  offspring  of 
their  petty  minds. 

Idolatry  is,  not  only  an  insult  to  the  deity,  but  an  offense 
against  human  nature,  tending  very  perceptibly  towards  the  deg- 
radation of  the  race  or  the  individual  that  indulges  in  the  practice. 
It  enervates,  by  suffering  that  exalted  faculty  of  the  human  mind 
through  which  it  rises  to  the  contemplation  of  God  to  lie  compara- 
tively idle.  Substituting  the  bodily  eye  for  that  of  the  soul,  it  per- 
mits the  latter  to  content  itself  wdth  less  exertion  than  is  needed  to 
preserve  its  healthiness  and  perfect  its  powers,  and  thus  weakens 
it  as  eyes  are  always  weakened  by  the  use  of  unnecessary  helps,  or 
as  the  restoration  to  soundness  of  an  injured  leg  is  impeded  by 
unduly  prolonging  the  use  of  crutches.  A  healthy  mind,  whether 
of  greater  or  less  strength,  has  no  need  of  any  such  medium  be- 
tween it  and  its  God  as  these  representations  afford,  but  is  per- 
fectly competent,  whenever  it  will  undertake  the  task,  to  raise 
itself  to  such  a  height  that  it  can  adequately  realize  the  presence 
of  God  for  praying  effectually.  The  effort  of  doing  so  is  fre- 
quently a  great  one,  but  is  attended  with  the  most  beneficial 
results  to  the  whole  mental  organism,  and  is  really  necessary  in 
order  to  accomplish  the  end  proposed.  The  employment  of  any 
material  object,  instead  of  being  a  help,  is  merely  a  hindrance, 
causing  the  mind  to  stop  short  of  the  goal  with  the  belief  that  it 
has  attained  it. 

When  the  spirit  of  man  becomes  conscious  of  growing  weak- 
ness, it  will  seek  for  stimulants  which  a  more  vigorous  constitution 
would  disdain.    The  general  decay  of  learning  which  accompanied 


262  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

tlie  decline  of  the  empire  affected  those  whose  occupation  it  was 
to  study  the  mysteries  of  religion,  as  well  as  the  scholars  of  secular 
knowledge.  The  decrease  of  intellectual  attainments  almost  neces- 
sarily involves  a  diminution  of  mental  power,  upon  the  principle 
that  what  is  treated  as  useless  tends  to  become  so.  As  the  mind 
ceased  to  exert  its  noblest  powers  in  the  higher  spheres  of  thought, 
its  tone  became  insensil)ly  lowered,  till  presently  it  shrank  from 
the  fatigue  of  a  purely  spiritual  devotion,  and  permitted  itself  to 
lean  more  and  more  upon  sensuous  helps.  Images  and  pictures 
would  then  be  multiplied  in  many  churches  and  introduced  into 
many  an  oratory,  tliey  would  l)e  brought  down  nearer  to  the  wor- 
shiper, so  as  to  be  kissed  and  adorned  by  the  more  enthusiastic,  and 
would  attract  towards  themselves  more  and  more  the  feeble- winged 
supplications  of  the  effeminate  multitude,  grown  too  weak  for  the 
labor  of  mounting  in  thought  to  the  Eternal  Throne. 

It  was  inevitable  that  a  reaction  would  presently  take  place. 
Some  one  would  raise  the  cry  of  alarm,  some  bold-spirited  monk 
would  issue  from  the  deserts  and  call  mankind  in  trumpet  tones 
back  to  the  faith  from  which  it  had  Mien,  some  high-minded 
shepherd  would  fearlessly  and  unsparingly  exert  himself  to  eradi- 
cate the  harmful  practice  from  his  flock,  or,  under  the  existing 
condition  of  aflairs,  some  ])ious  sovereign  would  undertake  to 
remind  the  Church  that  it  was  swer^^ng  from  its  allegiance.  This 
movement  would,  most  likely,  originate  among  some  hardy  and  in- 
dependent race,  whose  inferior  civilization  had  avoided  the  fatal 
rot  which  was  destroying  the  high,  but  unchristian,  civilization  of 
the  Byzantine  people :  it  would  perhaps  spring  from  some  vigor- 
ous tribe  of  half-wild  aborigines,  which  had  preserved  among  inac- 
cessible cliffs  and  narrow  valleys  that  valor  and  fidelity  which 
seem  to  be  imbibed  with  the  bracing  atmosphere  and  extended 
views  of  mountainous  regions,  and  for  which  any  kind  or  degree 
of  refinement  whatsoever  is  but  a  miserable  substitute.  ^Nurtured 
among  rocks  and  crags,  the  spirit  of  Protestantism  would  only 
await  the  signal  of  destiny  to  rush  down,  like  one  of  its  own 
mountain  torrents,  upon  the  enervated  and  luxurious  inhabitants 
of  the  lowlands.  Perhaps,  too,  the  impulse  which  should  set  the 
pent-up  stream  free  would  come  from  outside  of  the  boundaries  of 
Christendom,  from  this  or  that  false  religion  to  which  a  justly 
offended  God  would  give  a  commission  to  chastise  His  own  sub- 
jects on  account  of  their  rebellion. 


THE  ICONOCLASTIC  CONTROVERSY.  263 

From  the  sand  wastes  of  the  Arabian  peninsula  burst  a  tem- 
pest •which,  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  swept  like  a 
sirocco  over  the  adjacent  countries  of  the  Asiatic  continent,  and 
continued  its  mad  career  till  it  was  met,  in  the  heart  of  France, 
by  the  still  fiercer  blasts  of  the  IN'orth.  In  the  terrified  ear  of  the 
Greek  rang  that  tremendous  battle-cry,  "  There  is  no  God  but 
one,  and  Mahomet  is  his  prophet."  Resistless  and  disdainful,  on 
surged  the  Saracen  hosts,  and  down  went  the  Greeks  before  them. 
With  all  the  emphasis  of  victory  they  raised  the  derisive  shout 
against  the  idols  of  the  Christians,  as  they  called  the  various  im- 
ages which  they  found  adorning  the  churches.  Then  the  Jews 
took  up  the  ciy,  and  nourished  their  old  antipathy  to  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  despised  Nazarene  by  heaping  ridicule  upon  them 
as  idolaters.  May  it  not  have  been  that  Judaism  and  Mohamme- 
danism thus  combined  to  arouse  many  a  Christian  from  a  lethargy 
that  might  have  else  been  fatal  ?  Stung  almost  into  fury  by  the 
slanderous  epithets  lavished  upon  their  brethren,  many  felt  the 
blush  of  shame  presently  supplant  the  flush  of  indignation,  as  the 
truth  slowly  dawned  upon  them  that  much  had  been  committed 
to  warrant  the  reproach.  Even  if  the  almost  universal  defense 
was  a  denial  of  the  charge,  a  bold  afiirmation  that  the  reverence 
paid  to  images  was  not  idolatrous,  nevertheless  the  conscience  of 
the  Church  was,  even  at  that,  put  upon  its  guard  against  possible 
abuses. 

The  Isaurian  mountains  nurtured  a  race  of  hardy  peasants  who 
did  not  easily  fall  a  prey  to  the  Saracens  after  these  had  overrun 
Syria.  Attracted  by  such  superior  facilities  as  Thrace  afforded 
for  the  speedy  acquisition  of  wealth,  one  of  these  peasants  emi- 
grated thitherward,  engaged  in  the  profitable  business  of  a  grazier, 
and  on  one  occasion  supplied  the  imperial  camp  with  five  hundred 
sheep.  His  son  enlisted  in  the  guards  of  Justinian  II.,  and,  draw- 
ing to  himself  the  favorable  regard  of  his  superiors,  by  his  services 
in  the  Colchian  war  especially,  rose  gradually  from  the  ranks  till 
Anastasius  rewarded  him  with  the  command  of  the  Anatolian 
legions.  In  the  year  718  this  peasant's  son  was  crowned  with  the 
imperial  diadem,  by  the  acclaim  of  the  troops,  and  with  the  glad 
approval  of  the  people.  Still  carrying  a  soldier's  heart,  Leo  III. 
drove  an  army  of  the  Saracens  from  before  the  walls  of  Constanti- 
nople, and  a  Saracen  fleet  from  its  harbor,  with  the  assistance  of 
Greek  fire,  and  then  pushed  those  invaders  beyond  his  borders ; 


264  THE  CHURCH  AXD   THE  FAITH. 

and  also  distinguished  himself  in  various  other  successful  enter- 
prises of  a  martial  nature.     Unfortunately,  he  saw  no  limits  to  his 
authority,  but  thought  himself  called   upon  to  rule  as  absolutely 
over  the  minds  as  over  the  bodies  of  his  subjects.     His  remartable 
energy  and  determination  made  him  a  terrible  persecutor  when 
once  he  had  decided  to  suppress  a  sect  or  put  down  an  evil.     In 
the  sixth  year  of  his  reign  a  most  ill-advised  and  cruel  edict  com- 
pelled Jews  and  Montanists  to  receive  Catholic  baptism,  with  the 
result  that  the  former  submitted  to  a  hollow  rite,  and  the  latter 
perished  self-devoted  in  the  flames  with  which  their  own  fanati- 
cism wrapped   their   meeting-houses.      Although    his  hatred  of 
Image- worship  was  not  one  whit  less  violent,  he  wisely  dissem- 
bled it  until  ten  prosperous  years  had  seated  him  firmly  upon  his 
throne.     His  first  attack  was  planned  with  all  the  prudence  of  a 
wily  general,  who  dreads  the  numbers  more  than  the  skill  of  his 
foe.     Instead  of  disclosing  his  full  purpose  at  once,  as  an  ordinary 
despot  would  have  done,   he  condescended  to  employ  strategy. 
He  did  not  aim,  he  said,  at  pictures  and  images  themselves,  nor 
even   at  every  species  of  veneration  of  them,  but  only  at  such 
adoration  as  was  implied  in  bowing,  kneeling,  and  prostrating 
one's  self  before  them  :  indeed,  he  professed  to  entertain  such  re- 
spect for  those  holy  objects  that  his  intention  in  directing  them  to 
be  raised  above  the  reach  of  the  people  was  to  protect  them  from 
profoning  touch  of  hand  or  lip.     What  share  the  bishop  of  Na- 
colia,  a  Phrygian  city,  had  in  this  action  of  the  emperor  we  can 
only  conjecture.    It  may  have  been  that  Constantino  was  animated 
by  a  sincere  concern  for  the  honor  of  Almighty  God,  burned  with 
vehement  indignation  at  beholding  the  Church  wholly  given  over, 
as  he  may  have  thought,  to  idolatrous  practices,  and  hoped  to 
promote  the  interests  of  true  religion  by  persuading  Leo  to  emu- 
late the  pious  zeal  of  Hezekiah  in  removing  the  brazen  sei-pent 
from  the  adulterous  eyes  of  backsliding  Israel.     Both  monarch 
and  counselor  were  probably  taken  by  surprise  when   the  edict 
was  answered  in  tones  of  general  execration  and  defiance,  and  an 
ill-equipped  fleet  fi-om  the  Archipelago  proclaimed  the  indigna- 
tion of  the  islanders  beneath  the  walls  of  the  imperial  city  by  sup- 
porting the  pretensions  of  a  certain  Cosmas,  who  had  been  put 
forward  by  the  monkish  faction.     But  Greek  fire  having  again 
proved  an  efficient  protector  of  his  oft-beleaguered  capital,  Leo 
listened  to  the  voice  of  resentment,  and  issued  a  more  stringent 


THE  ICONOCLASTIC  CONTRO  VEB8T.  266 

edict  commanding  the  demolition  of  all  images  and  the  oblitera- 
tion of  all  pictures :  those  were  to  be  broken  to  pieces  with 
hammers,  these  rubbed  over  with  a  wet  brush. 

Such  prelates  as  were  themselves  apposed  to  images,  or  anx- 
ious to  recommend  themselves  to  imperial  favor,  proceeded  to 
enforce  the  edict  in  theu-  dioceses,  and  were  reinforced  bj  the 
secular  arm,  which  ruthlessly  punished  the  refractory  by  the  vari- 
ous methods  known  to  the  cruelty  of  that  time.  But  the  opposi- 
tion was  not  to  be  thus  easily  extinguished.  If  men  had  clung 
tenaciously  to  an  abstruse  doctriqe  concerning  the  profoundest 
mysteries,  would  they  easily  surrender  that  upon  which  their  rev- 
erential, loving  gaze  had  so  often  been  fastened,  that  which  their 
very  hands  had  handled  ?  Besides,  there  were  deeper  interests  than 
even  these  involved  in  this  headlong  assault  upon  all  kinds  of 
representations ;  for  was  not  Jesus  Christ  the  Image  of  the  invisi- 
ble God,  and  therefore  was  not  the  very  doctrine  of  the  incarna- 
tion assailed  ?  It  may  be  that  the  emperor  was  performing  a  most 
courageous  and  necessary  deed,  but  he  certainly  was  attempting, 
almost  single-handed,  to  breast  a  tremendous  tide  and  turn  it  back 
upon  itself. 

In  Germanus,  the  venerable  patriarch  of  his  own  city,  Leo 
met  with  a  heavy  disappointment,  for,  holding  to  that  view  of  the 
connection  between  Images  and  the  Incarnation  at  which  we  have 
hinted  above,  he  preferred,  although  ninety-five  years  of  age,  to 
resign  his  see  rather  than  subscribe  the  edict.  The  example  of 
Constantinople  was  followed  by  Eome,  which  was  gradually  with- 
drawing from  the  decrepid  empire  of  the  East,  and  affiliating  it- 
self with  the  rapidly  advancing  and  consolidating  power  of  the 
Franks.  Gregory  II.  rejected  the  edict,  with  the  emphatic 
approval  of  all  Italy,  which  seemed  ready,  if  such  a  step  should 
become  necessary  in  order  to  save  itself  from  Byzantine  despotism, 
to  throw  itself  at  the  feet  of  Luitprand,  the  Lombard  king.  Ea- 
venna  drove  its  exarch  to  Pavia.  The  whole  country  was  on  the 
verge  of  revolt.  Had  Leo  attempted  to  execute  his  threat  of  seiz- 
ing the  pontiif,  as  Martin,  of  pious  memory,  had  been  seized,  he 
would  probably  have  discovered  that  the  pope  had  not  exceeded 
the  bounds  of  veracity  when  he  wrote  that  a  withdrawal  from 
Eome  the  distance  of  twenty-four  furlongs,  into  Campania,  would 
condemn  those  who  should  pursue  him  to  the  profitless  task  of 
chasing  the  winds.     His  successor,  Gregory  III.,  presided  over  a 


266  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

synod  of  ninety-eight  bishops,  and  united  with  it  in  anathematiz- 
ing all  those  who  opposed  Images.  This,  and  other  provocations, 
incensed  Leo  to  such  a  degree  that  he  sent  a  fleet  to  chastise  Italy, 
which,  however,  escaped  at  the  expense  of  other  countries,  the 
vessels  being  so  badly  disabled  by  storms  that  they  never  reached 
their  ultimate  destination. 

But  the  most  famous  champion  of  images  resided  within  the 
dominions  of  the  caliph,  whose  privy  counselor  he  is  said  to  have 
been,  as  his  father  had  been  before  him.     John  Damascenus  has 
attained  the  distinction  of  having  been  almost  the  last  theologian 
of  the  Eastern  Church,  and  of  being,  to  a  great  extent,  the  acknowl- 
edged exponent  of  Eastern  theology.    At  the  outbreak  of  this  new 
controversial  struggle  he  wielded  the  pen  in  behalf  of  Images  with 
such  effect  that,  exasperated  at  the  plaiimess  of  speech  and  the 
force  of  argument  which  he  presumed  to  employ,  Leo  forged  a 
treasonable  letter  in  his  handwriting  and  sent  it  to  the  Mussul- 
man.    John  was  evidently  a  thorough  believer  in  Images.     The 
daily  taunts  which  he  must  have  been  compelled  to  hear  at  court 
only  served  to  confirm  him  in  his  attachment  to  his  idols,  if  sucli 
we  choose  to  term  them.     He  was  unable  to  perceive  what  hurt 
such  representations  of  sacred  pei-sons,  things,  or  scenes  could  do 
to  such  as  had  reached  the  full  stature  of  Christian  manhood. 
Injurious  they  must  have  been  in  the  childhood  of  religion,  but 
they  surely  could  not  hann  those  who  lived  in  the  full  light  of  the 
new  revelation.     If  we  can  credit  tradition,  John  soon  had  an 
opportunity  to  perform  a  miracle  in  attestation  of  the  correctness 
of  his  views,  for  the  indignant  caliph,  disregarding  all  his  protest- 
ations of  innocence,  condemned  him  to  lose  the  most  guilty  mem- 
ber.    He  was  fully  equal  to  the  occasion.     Stooping  to  a  little 
duplicity,  he  begged,  when  evening  came,  that  the  hand  might  be 
given  him,  as  he  experienced  great  suffering  while  it  was  exposed 
to  the  open  air.    His  request  having  been  granted,  the  Damascene 
presented  his  petition  before  the  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and 
then  lay  down  to  rest  in  the  implicit  belief  that  his  supplication 
would  be  heard  in  Heaven.     When  he  awoke  the  next  morning 
the  severed  wrist  was  whole  again,— unless  some  mistake  has 
crept  into  the  legend.     Rejecting  the  offer  of  his  former  master  to 
reinstate  him  in  his  service,  the  grateful  John  dedicated  his  recov- 
ered hand  to  the  cause  of  images  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Sabbas, 
near  Jerusalem.     In  three  orations  which  he  composed  agamst 


THE  ICONOCLASTIC  CONTROVEBST.  £67 

Iconoclasm,  he  makes  much  of  a  distinction,  which  later  ages  liave 
enlarged  upon,  between  the  kind  of  adoration  we  pay  to  the  Deity 
and  that  worship  which  we  may  properly  address  to  creatures,  or 
even  to  things ;  a  distinction  Avhich  deserves  all  the  odium  that  an 
outraged  Christianity  can  throw  upon  it. 

In  741  Constantino  Y.,  surnamed  Copronymus,  began  a  reign 
of  such  a  length  that  he  was  enabled,  in  pursuance  of  his  father's 
schemes,  almost  to  extirpate  Image-worship  from  the  churches. 
As  the  repressive  measures  which  he  pursued  with  so  much  vigor 
called  out  many  of  the  most  violent  passions  of  men  into  active 
play,  it  was  inevitable  that  very  opposite  \news  of  his  life  and 
character  should  be  presented  to  posterity  by  the  writers  of  the 
period.  To  the  Worshiper  of  Images  he  would  be  a  very  monster 
of  iniquity,  loaded  with  all  the  most  atrocious  and  abominable 
crimes  and  vices ;  while  to  the  Iconoclast  he  was  sure  to  be  a  pat- 
tern of  virtue,  remarkable  for  chastity  and  temperance.  The 
acknowledgment  can  hardly  be  withheld  that  he  was  endowed 
with  unusual  abilities  and  that  he  possessed,  as  might  have  been 
expected  of  his  excellent  stock,  the  disposition  and  the  skill  to  put 
these  to  the  best  account,  both  in  conducting  campaigns  against 
Bulgarian  and  Saracenic  enemies,  and  in  increasing  the  resources 
of  his  dominions.  It  seems  more  than  probable  that  these  valu- 
able qualities  of  head  were  joined  with  gross  licentiousness  and 
extreme  cruelty,  those  sad  manifestations  of  a  corrupt  heart.  A 
rash  rebellion,  in  which  the  Image-worshipers  were  more  or  less 
implicated,  heated  into  seven-fold  fury  the  furnace  to  which  im- 
perial tyranny  doomed  them.  His  brother-in-law,  Artavasdus, 
sought  to  clothe  himself  with  the  purple,  and,  as  a  means  thereto, 
courted  popular  favor  by  restoring  images  wherever  he  obtained 
power  to  do  so ;  but  was  put  down  after  a  struggle  of  three  years' 
duration.  Having  conquered  his  rival,  Constantino  nevertheless 
thought  that  prudence  required  him  to  place  severe  restraint  upon 
himself,  and  postpone  the  full  gratification  of  his  revenge  and 
hatred  until  he  could  throw  them  the  reins  without  imperiling  his 
throne.  Proceeding  with  caution,  he  fortified  himself  with  the 
sanction  of  a  council  which  he  convened  in  the  year  754  in  the 
outskirts  of  Constantinople.  This  obsequious  body  was  presided 
over  by  the  bishops  of  Ephesus  and  Perga,  not  a  single  patriarch 
being  included  in  its  list  of  three  hundred  and  thirty-eight  bishops. 
Its  decisions  might  have  been  drawn  up  by  the  emperor  himself, 


268  THE  CHUBGE  AND   THE  FAITH. 

80  full  and  explicit  were  they  in  condemning  images  and  pictures, 
which  they  commanded  to  be  removed  from  all  places  of  worship, 
and  in  anathematizing  all  who  should  persist  in  setting  up  any 
such  representations,  or  in  adoring  them,  or  even  in  retaining 
them  in  their  possession.  It  is  painful  to  notice,  that  even  this 
Iconoclastic  Council  openly  declared  its  approval  of  the  practice  of 
invoking  the  Virgin  and  the  saints.  IIow  lamentable  must  have 
been  the  degeneracy  of  the  Church  when  both  parties  could  agree 
in  sanctioning  so  pernicious  and  irreverent  a  custom !  Yerily,  it 
was  time  that  God  should  arouse  Himself,  and  save  the  Church 
from  utter  apostacy  by  the  lash  of  bitter  adversity. 

Constantine  went  beyond  the  council,  not  only  ordering  that 
all  images  should  be  removed,  but  that  pictures  on  church  walls 
should  be  painted  over,  and  thus  changed  into  representations  of 
all  sorts  of  secular  scenes.     If  his  design  was  to  goad  the  people 
into  madness,  he  could  scarcely  have  devised  a  better  plan,  for 
with  what  impatience  must  the  devout-minded  have  seen  sacred 
edifices  desecrated  with  designs  taken  from  the  theatre  or  the  cir- 
cus !     If  Theodosius  of  Ephesus  and  a  few  others  heartily  ap- 
proved of  the  measures  taken  for  suppressing  Images,  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  a  large  proportion  of  both  the  clergy  and  laity  was  even 
more  unalterably  hostile,  not  only  to  the  actual  measures,  but  to 
all  others  towards  that  end.     It  has  always  been  a  characteristic 
of  the  monastic  life  to  produce  moral  courage  and  religious  zeal. 
Any  cause,  therefore,  which  enlists  the  sympathies  of  those  who 
have  dedicated  themselves  to  prayer  and  pious  meditation,  is  sure 
to  find  abundant  martyi-s.     A  fiery  monk  could  at  any  time  be 
selected  who  would  joyfully  embrace  a  call  to  penetrate  into  the 
palace  and  upbraid  the  sternest  and  crudest  despot  to  his  very 
face.     Peter  "  the  calybite ''  allowed  his  fanaticism  to  can-y  him 
before  Constantine,  and  incite  him  to  call  that  vindictive  man  by 
names  that  must  have  irritated  a  much  less  passionate  one :  he 
atoned  for  his  rashness  beneath  the  lash,  being  scourged  in  the 
hippodrome  and  afterwards  strangled.     Nothing  could  subdue  the 
constancy  of  such  men  as  Stephen  of  Bithynia.     Monks  flocked  in 
such  large  numbers  to  his  grotto,  which  was  on  a  lofty  mountain 
near  the  sea-shore,  to  receive  counsel  and  encouragement  from  this 
ardent  Image-worshiper,  that  policy  dictated  an  attempt  to  win 
him  over  by  means  of  an  embassage  undertaken  by  a  person  of  high 
rank.     This  conciliatory  policy  having  failed,  recourse  was  had  to 


THE  ICONOCLASTIC  CONTROVERSY.  269 

the  customary  measures  of  imprisonment,  banishment,  and  torture, 
but  with  equal  lack  of  success.  So  little  impression  was  made 
upon  his  dauntless  mind,  that  he  actually  dared  to  trample  upon 
the  emperor's  likeness  before  his  very  eyes.  Taking  a  coin  and 
drawing  attention  to  the  image  on  it,  he  threw  it  to  the  ground 
and  put  his  foot  upon  it.  The  illustration  was  extremely  forcible, 
but  neither  courteous  nor  safe.  The  emperor's  indignation  was, 
as  might  have  been  anticipated,  too  strong  for  his  love  of  con- 
sistency, and  prevented  him  from  learning  the  lesson  of,  at  least, 
proceeding  against  Images  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  insult  the  One 
for  whose  honor  he  professed  to  be  concerned.  Stephen  expiated 
his  oifense  upon  the  stones  of  the  streets,  being  dragged  about  by 
one  foot  till  the  breath  had  left  his  aged  body,  which  was  then  torn 
in  pieces.  Such  unflinching  firmness  convinced  Copronymus  that 
the  only  sure  method  of  overcoming  the  resistance  of  the  monks 
would  be  to  break  up  their  communities  and  abolish  their  orders. 
With  that  end  in  view  he  destroyed  monasteries  or  profaned  them 
by  consigning  them  to  secular  uses,  and  compelled  their  inmates 
to  break  their  most  solemn  vows  by  eating  luxuriously  and  by 
standing  in  the  hippodrome  hand-in-hand  with  lewd  women. 
The  refractory  were  subjected  to  the  usual  penalties.  The  bar- 
barous name  of  a  Thracian  governor,  Michael  Lachanadraco,  is 
especially  infamous  in  this  connection.  Not  satisfied  with  put- 
ting out  the  eyes  of  those  who  refused  to  commit  perjury  by 
wearing  white  and  taking  wives,  nor  with  banishing  them  to 
Cyprus,  he  adopted  the  devilish  device  of  anointing  their  heads 
with  a  combustible  mixture  and  then  igniting  it,  slew  many,  and 
l)urned  and  plundered  the  monasteries  generally.  His  rage 
against  relics  emptied  the  celebrated  Chalcedonian  Church  of 
those  of  St.  Euphemia,  which  were  cast  into  the  sea  and  carried 
by  the  waves,  it  is  said,  giving  forth  a  delightful  odor  all  the  way, 
to  Lemnos,  and  there  preserved  for  the  faithful  of  a  happier  gener- 
ation. 

Every  outrage  was  heaped  upon  one  of  these  unhappy  men, 
whom  the  emperor's  own  partiality  had  created  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople. Why  the  arrow  of  persecution  was  aimed  at  him  is 
hidden  in  obscurity.  Recommended  in  the  first  place  by  his  zeal 
against  Images,  and  readily  compliant  with  later  commands  of  his 
master,  who  required  his  presence  at  banquets  and  indecent  scenes 
which  he  could  not  attend  without  breach  of  his  monastic  vows, 


270  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

Constantine  nevertheless  fell  at  length  under  the  imperial  dis' 
pleasure,  and  was  banished,  only  to  be  brought  back  again  before 
the  second  year  had  expired  and  subjected  to  every  indignity  and 
cruelty.  Beaten,  struck,  spitted  upon,  compelled  to  ride  back- 
wards upon  an  ass,  holding  its  tail  with  both  hands,  his  hair,  eye- 
brows, and  beard  having  been  plucked  out,  thrown  violently  to 
the  ground,  trampled  upon,  and  at  length  beheaded,  the  poor  suf- 
ferer doubtless  had  ample  opportunity  to  sigh  over  the  sinful  com- 
plaisance, which  bad  shorn  him  of  his  dignity  in  the  eyes  of  others, 
and  deprived  him  of  the  satisfaction  he  might  have  felt  in  endur- 
ing persecution  had  not  his  own  weakness  deserved  it. 

Images  continued  under  the  ban  during  the  short  reign  of  the 
third  emperor  of  tliis  line,  Leo  lY.,  who,  however,  pursued  a 
much  more  lenient  course  towards  the  worshipers  of  them  than 
his  father  had  done.  Being  endowed  with  little  strength  of  con- 
stitution or  force  of  character,  he  fell  much  under  the  sway  of  his 
wife,  but  not  so  utterly  as  to  permit  her  to  indulge  her  fondness 
for  Images.  The  violent  repressive  measures  of  three  sovereigns 
were  not  without  some  effect  in  uprooting  Image-worship.  Two 
important  classes  at  least  were  rendered  thoroughly  Iconoclastic. 
The  episcopal  thrones,  being  very  largely  under  imperial  control, 
were,  of  course,  filled,  as  they  became  vacant,  with  such  ecclesias- 
tics as  were  of  one  mind  with  the  court  upon  the  great  subject  of 
controversy.  However,  the  bishops  were,  in  all  probability,  more 
unanimously  Iconoclastic  when  Leo  lY.  ascended  the  throne  than 
they  were  aflter  his  wife  had  secretly  been  using  her  influence  dur- 
ing four  years  and  a  half  in  ])rocuring  the  promotion  of  monks  to 
such  seats  as  were  to  be  filled.  The  second  class  was  one  of  enor- 
mous power  in  all  absolute  governments.  The  military  achieve- 
ments of  Constantine  Copronymus  Imd  attached  the  soldiery  so 
firmly  to  his  memory,  that  nothing  but  superior  prowess  in  any  of 
his  successors  could  have  induced  them  to  look  kindly  upon  a 
cause  that  he  had  assailed  so  vehemently.  On  the  opposite  side 
were,  first  of  all,  the  much -enduring,  but  unconquerable,  bands  of 
monks,  men  who  almost  seemed  to  enjoy  the  persecutions  which 
they  courted.  Then,  behind  these  pioneers  stood  the  vast  masses 
of  the  populace,  rank  upon  rank,  always  disposed  to  attach  great 
sanctity  to  the  monastic  habit,  and  of  late  deeply  impressed  and 
entirely  won  over  by  the  constancy  and  courage  that  had  so  con- 
spicuously marked  these  separatists  from  society.     It  was  evident 


THE  ICONOCLASTIC  C0NTR0VER8T.  271 

that  the  battle  was  not  yet  decided,  and  that  the  Image-worshipers 
only  awaited  a  leader  in  order  to  display  their  forces  upon  a  well- 
contested  iield.  As  the  impulse  which  had  overturned  the  idols 
had  come  from  a  hardy,  independent,  plebeian  stock,  impatient  of 
all  that  savored  of  effeminacy,  so  it  was  likely  that  the  reaction 
would  spring  from  an  ancestry  that  had  lost  in  many  generations 
of  high  culture  that  freedom  of  thought  and  nobihty  of  nature 
which  can  seldom  survive  long  contact  with  luxury.  In  marrying 
his  son  to  a  woman  who,  besides  being  a  Greek,  was  of  a  family 
noted  for  its  attachment  to  Image- worship,  Coprouymus  made  the 
strange  mistake  of  supposing  that  a  solemn  oath  could  bind  her 
conscience  to  inaction  in  so  holy  a  cause.  Educated  under  the 
effete  civilization  of  later  Greece,  and  immoral  to  such  a  degree 
as  to  crave  instinctively  some  kind  of  religion  which  concealed  sin 
under  the  veil  of  external  and  sentimental  observances,  Irene  was 
just  the  woman  to  become  the  heroine  of  the  monkish  party  and 
restore  Images  to  the  niches  from  which  they  had  been  so  igno- 
miniously  expelled. 

After  the  death  of  her  husband  Irene  grasped  the  reins  of  gov- 
ernment in  the  name  of  her  son,  Constantino  VI.,  a  boy  about  ten 
years  old,  and  began  at  once  to  disclose  an  intention  of  reinstat- 
ing both  monks  and  images.  At  first  she  contented  herself  with 
what  to  her  was  a  half-way  measure,  an  edict  of  general  toleration. 
Her  especial  care  for  several  years  was  to  prepare  the  way  for  a 
total  revolution  by  accustoming  the  people  to  the  sight  of  the 
banished  monks,  by  favoring  the  monastic  life,  and  by  promoting 
as  many  ascetics  as  she  could  -s^athout  creating  too  much  disturb- 
ance. A  fortunate  incident  aided  her  schemes  when  they  were 
becoming  ripe.  In  784  a  severe  sickness  induced  Paul  to  abdi- 
cate the  patriarchate  of  Constantinople,  and  take  refuge  in  a  mon- 
astery ;  in  which  he  soon  afterwards  expired,  but  not  until  he  had 
expressed  deep  contrition  for  all  that  he  had  done  in  opposition  to 
the  sacred  cause  of  Images,  declared  that  it  had  been  done  out  of 
regard  for  man  and  at  the  price  of  an  uneasy  conscience,  indicated 
a  desire  to  perform  penance  as  the  motive  of  his  retirement,  and 
advised  the  empress  to  appoint  as  his  successor  some  worthy  man 
who  should  reconcile  his  see  to  the  rest  of  the  Church  by  reestab- 
lishing the  blessed  custom  of  worshiping  Images.  So  opportune 
was  this  occurrence  that  it  has  veiy  much  the  look  of  a  gotten-up 
affair ;  and  yet,  as  has  been  suggested,  it  would  be  natural  enough 


272  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

for  a  man  to  act  as  Paul  did,  provided  he  liad  originally  been  an 
Image-worshiper  in  sentiment,  and,  in  joining  the  iconoclasts,  had 
done  violence  to  his  convictions  from  a  desire  to  conciliate  the 
emperor.     Pains  were  not  spared  to  circulate  this  story,  and  Tara- 
sius,  the  first  secretary  of  state,  having  been  recommended  by  the 
dying  patriarch,  was  irregularly  advanced  to  the  episcopal  throne. 
As  an  ofiF-set  to  the  council  which  had  condenmed  images  under 
Copronymus,  one  was  now  summoned  by  Irene.    But  with  all  her 
caution,  she  had  outrun  prudence,  for  when,  in  August  of  the  year 
786,  a  number  of  bishops  had  assembled  in  the  Byzantine  church 
of  the  Apostles,  a  mob  broke  in  upon  them  and  compelled  them 
to  disperse.     Perceiving  that  a  large  number  of  the  prelates  were 
violent  Iconoclasts,  and  that  they  could  rely  upon  the  support  of 
the  soldiery,  the  empress  wisely  bent  to  the  gale,  and  directed  her 
adherents  to  withdraw.     The  interval  of  a  year  having  sufficed  to 
dispatch  the  unruly  guard  away  from   the  city,  break  it  up,  and 
form  a  new  one,  and  to  complete  other  necessary  preparations,  the 
fathers  met  again  the  ensuing  September.     Nice  was  preferred  to 
Constantinople  for  the  place  of  assembling,  as  being  freer  from  dis- 
turbing elements  and  redolent  with  the  sacred  memories  of  the 
year  325.     The  three  hundred  and  fifty  members  of  this  synod 
were  presided  over  by  the  Roman  envoys,   Tarasius,  and  two 
monks  who  claimed  to  represent  the  three  remaining  patriarchs. 
The  history  of  the  proceedings  is  nauseous  to  all  who  have  not 
lost  the  power  of  feeling  moral  disgust,  as  it  is  impossible  to  sup- 
pose that  the  lapse  of  the  Iconoclastic  bishops  was  a  genuine  con- 
version, and  we  must  regard  it  as  a  most  sickening  exhibition  of 
Oriental  fickleness  and  spiritual  cowardice.     It  is  pitiful  to  hear 
man  after  man  sounding  the  note  of  abject  submission,  to  listen 
to  Gregory  of  Xeo-Caesarea  while  he  begs  to  know  what  is  the 
general  opinion  of  the  conclave  before  venturing  to  form  one  of 
his  own,  or  to  notice  the  \vretched  spirit  with  which  they  seek  to 
excuse  themselves  for  their  former  conduct.     What  sort  of  men 
to  lead  the  armies  of  the  Lord  are  these  ?  one  involuntarily  ex- 
claims, as  he  searches  in  vain  for  a  single  dignitary  who  dared  to 
stand  by  his  convictions,  or  indeed  who  seems  to  have  really  had 
any  convictions.      Better  even  could  we  return   to  the  days  of 
Cyril  and  Dioscorus,  than  that  we  should  linger  among  these  gal- 
vanized corpses,  these  hollow  shells,  of  men  !     Worse  than  the 
contentions  of  John  and  Cyril,  worse  than  the  tumultuous  cries 


THE  ICONOCLASTIC  CONTROVERSY.  273 

which  drowned  the  voice  of  Theodoret,  worse  than  the  Latro- 
cinium  itself  w^ith  its  brutal  assaults  upon  Flavian,  worse  by  far 
than  any  exhibition  of  zeal  however  uncontroled  or  of  fanaticism 
however  wild,  was  the  awful  stupor  of  death  which  flung  the 
Second  Council  of  Mce  upon  the  pavement  before  an  Image,  and 
reminds  us  sadly  of  that  terrible  scene  in  the  Hell  of  tlie  poet,  when 
the  congregated  potentates  suddenly  find  themselves  prone  upon  the 
earth,  hissing  with  forked  tongue  and  impotent  rage.  The  council 
decreed  that^^a^  Images  (representations  made  by  the  painter's,  and 
not  the  sculptor's,  art)  should  be  set  up  and  honored  with  a  certain 
kind  of  worship  less  profound  than  that  paid  to  the  Deity.  This 
decree,  having  been  signed  by  the  members  of  the  council  and  by 
the  empress  and  her  son,  fastened  the  two  distinctions  upon  the 
Eastern  Church  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  and,  it  may  be, 
for  a  much  longer  period  yet  to  come.  The  Second  Council  of 
Nice  was  intended  to  be  oecumenical,  and  is  considered  by  the 
East  to  have  merited  that  appellation  ;  but  we  will  discover  enough 
in  the  sequel  of  its  history  to  convince  us  that  no  universal  con- 
firmation of  its  decisions  ever  occurred  to  entitle  it  to  such  honor. 
Throughout  the  extent  of  the  Greek  empire  its  authority  was  in- 
deed acknowledged  during  the  rest  of  Irene's  reign  and  several 
subsequent  ones,  but  even  there  it  did  not  pass  altogether  un- 
questioned. 

In  the  year  813  another  Leo  came  to  the  rescue  of  a  pure  and 
manly  faith.  The  days  of  the  Isaurian  were  almost  restored  under 
the  Armenian,  who  was  not  unlike,  in  most  respects,  to  that  fa- 
mous namesake  whom  he  seems  to  have  chosen  as  his  pattern.  Bred 
in  the  camp,  Leo  V.  retained  under  the  purple  the  virtues  of  a 
warrior,  and  the  cruelty  and  arbitrariness  which  often  disgrace  his 
profession.  Most  strange  to  relate,  the  impetus  in  this  instance 
came  from  a  monk,  who  promised  the  ruler  a  long  and  prosperous 
reign  if  he  would  exert  himself  to  eradicate  idols  and  idolatry  from 
the  Church.  Determined  to  assure  himself  of  his  road  before  ad- 
vancing, he  consulted  with  ]^icephorus,  patriarch  of  the  city,  the 
celebrated  monk  and  fanatical  image-worshiper,  Theodore  Studites, 
and  others  who  were  of  that  side,  and  with  Antony  of  Sylseum 
and  other  Iconoclasts.  His  first  public  step  was  to  require  the 
adherents  of  the  Images  to  promise  that  they  would  abstain  from 
holding  meetings  and  from  discussing  the  topics  under  dispute. 
Vehement  in  a  bad  cause,  Theodore  threw  all  the  fanaticism  of  a 


274  THE  CHURCG  AND   THE  FAITH. 

monk  into  the  opposite  scale,  with  the  result  that  he  exasperated 
the  emperor  both  against  himself  and  his  party,  so  that  orders 
were  issued  to  destroy  or  remove  Images  wherever  it  could  be 
done,  and  many  recalcitrant  prelates  and  abbots  were  deprived 
and  banished,  and  he  himself  sent  into  exile.  Daring  the  seven 
years  that  saw  him  driven  from  place  to  place,  starved,  impris- 
oned, dreadfully  scourged,  and  otherwise  maltreated  to  the  extreme 
of  human  endurance,  Theodore  evinced  a  heroism  which  causes  a 
sigh  that  it  was  manifested,  not  only  in  behalf  of  a  more  than 
doubtful  practice,  but  needlessly,  since  he  could  have  avoided  his 
suflerings  by  using  mildness  and  moderation,  instead  of  untem- 
pered  boldness,  in  his  speech.  He  particularly  otfended  the 
emperor  by  his  reply  when  summoned  to  attend  a  synod  which 
was  lield  by  the  successor  of  Nicephorus  with  a  view  to  over- 
turning the  council  of  Irene  and  reestablishing  that  of  Coprony- 
mus.  Stung  by  the  opposition  he  encountered,  and  not  least  by 
Paschal's  refusal  to  receive  the  imperial  commissioners  into  Rome, 
by  his  undertaking  to  intercede  for  the  advocates  of  pictures,  and 
by  his  general  attitude  towards  the  iconoclasts,  Leo's  Armenian 
blood  grew  warmer  by  degrees,  till  his  rage  broke  forth  in  terrible 
and  vindictive  measures,  that  threatened  to  overwhelm  the  pictures 
and  their  friends  in  one  indiscriminate  ruin. 

The  next  emperor,  Michael  II.,  or  "  the  Stammerer,"  leaped, 
in  820,  on  Christmas  day,  from  a  dungeon  to  the  throne,  over  the 
dead  body  of  the  Armenian,  and  with  such  rapidity  that  he  wore 
his  fetters  several  hours  after  his  elevation.     He  began  by  toler- 
ating images,  and  might  have  continued  in  that  course  had  not  the 
frantic  Theodore  persisted  in  irritating  hitn,  till  he  was  driven  into 
forbidding  them  and  punishing  their  worshipers.     An  Iconoclast 
ruled  the  Byzantine  Church,  during  this  reign,  in  the  person  of 
Antony  of  Sylffium.     It  appears,  from  a  letter  which  Michael  sent 
to  the  Frank  emperor,  Lewis  the  Pious,  that  the  extravagances  of 
the  Image-worshipers  had  exceeded  all  bounds.     Images  had  been 
employed  as  sponsors  for  children  :  now  they  were  offered  lights, 
and  incense,  and  the  shorn  locks  of  devotees,  and  were  used  as  media 
for  conveying  the  consecrated  bread  to  comnmnicants ;  while  pic^ 
ures  were  made  to  serve  as  altars,  and  even  the  excess  was  reached 
of  scraping  off  the  paint  from  them  and  mixing  it  with  the  wine 
in  the  chalice. 

Having  been  educated  by  John  the  Grammarian,  whom  he 


THE  ICONOCLASTIC  CONTROVERSY.  2Y5 

soon  raised  to  the  patriarchate,  Theophilus  was  something  of  a 
scholar,  very  much  of  a  pedant,  and  not  at  all  favorable  to  pict- 
ures. He  strove  to  abolish  the  practice  of  adoring  these  by  raging 
against  artists  and  monks  in  general,  and  on  one  occasion  con- 
demned two  brothers,  Theophanes,  the  poet,  and  Theodore,  to  re- 
ceive two  hundred  lashes,  and  have  twelve  iambic  verses  of  his 
own  composition  branded  on  their  foreheads,  because  they  would 
not  yield  to  him  the  palm  of  controversy.  His  indignation  fell 
upon  another  monk,  named  Lazarus,  who,  however,  persevered  in 
using  his  brush,  notwithstanding  admonitions  and  cruel  beatings, 
till  he  had  achieved  a  picture  which  obtained  a  reputation  for 
possessing  miraculous  powers.  Having  slain  his  brother-in-law, 
Theophobus,  lest  he  should  disturb  the  succession,  and  bound 
his  wife  and  the  senate  by  an  oath  to  preserve  the  course  of 
ecclesiastical  policy  which  he  himself  had  adopted,  he  expired 
in  842. 

A  second  Irene  was  now  to  appear  upon  the  stage.  Like  that 
empress-mother,  sprung  of  an  image-worshiping  family,  and,  like 
her,  bound  by  a  solemn  engagement  not  to  impose  the  practice 
upon  her  dominions  or  even  to  indulge  in  it  herself,  Theodora  imi- 
tated the  conduct  of  her  predecessor  in  disregarding  her  promise,  and 
in  laboring  with  patience  and  astuteness  to  establish  the  adoration 
of  pictures  upon  an  immovable  basis.  One  of  the  guardians  of  her 
minor  son  was  a  decided  advocate  of  Images,  but  Manuel,  his 
uncle,  was  restrained  by  prudential  considerations  from  declaring 
his  sentiments  very  explicitly  till  after  a  dangerous  sickness,  from 
which  several  monks  had  promised  him  a  complete  recovery  upon 
condition  of  his  pledging  himself  to  labor  for  the  restoration  of 
pictures.  Theodora  herself  had  a  difficulty  to  overcome  in  her 
reluctance  to  cast  any  aspersions  upon  the  memory  of  her  hus- 
band. Her  scruples  being  finally  removed,  the  necessary  meas- 
ures were  resolved  upon  to  reinstate  Images  in  their  full  glory. 
The  patriarch  John  having  been  ejected  with  violence,  and  Me- 
thodius, a  confessor  in  the  cause  of  pictures,  thrust  in  his  place, 
and  a  synod  having  pronounced  in  favor  of  what  some  insisted 
upon  calling  idolatry,  the  dethroned  Images  of  the  capital  were 
replaced  with  great  pomp  on  the  First  Sunday  in  Lent,  a  day 
which  has  ever  since  been  observed  in  the  Oriental  Church  under 
the  name  of  the  Feast  of  Orthodoxy ;  and  Images  had  again  and 
finally  triumphed  through  the  instrumentality  of  a  woman. 


276  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

Eome  had  all  along  been  the  most  unflinching  patron  of 
Images,  but  her  example  had  had  little  weight  outside  of  Italy. 
In  the  West  a  new  power  was  rising,  which  would  soon  wrest  the 
Eternal  City  from  the  Byzantine  sceptre.  The  Merovingian  dy- 
nasty had  been  gradually  obscured  by  the  mayors  of  the  palace, 
till  at  last  Childeric  was  immured  in  a  monastery  and  his  officer, 
Pepin  the  Little,  grandson  of  Pepin  of  Heristal,  and  son  of  Charles 
Martel,  formally  seated  upon  the  throne.  After  acquiring  from  the 
sacred  hands  of  Pope  Stephen  such  additional  title  as  he  could 
convey,  and  reigning  with  renown  for  sixteen  years,  Pepin  di- 
vided the  rapidly  consolidating  empire  of  the  Franks  between  his 
two  sons,  of  whom  the  one,  Charlemagne,  soon  heard  himself 
declared  sole  and  undisputed  ruler.  The  great  abilities  of  this 
man  and  the  long  continuance  of  his  rule  enabled  him  vastly  to 
enlarge  the  boundaries  of  his  dominions,  by  subduing  the  Saxon 
tribes  and  hurling  Desiderius  from  the  Lombard  throne,  and  to 
improve  the  mode  of  administering  the  government,  increase  the 
internal  resources,  and  promote  the  interests  of  learning  and  re- 
ligion. Possessed  of  great  natural  shrewdness,  of  an  excellent 
understanding,  and  of  marvelous  energy,  Charlemagne  distin- 
guished hiuiself  almost  as  much  in  letters  as  in  arms  and  political 
afliiirs.  Although  of  gigantic  stature  and  herculean  strength,  his 
moral  qualities  corresponded  with  the  physical.  Submitting  to 
receive  the  crown  of  the  Roman  empire  from  Leo  III.,  he  was, 
nevertheless,  not  the  man  to  be  restrained  by  deference  to  any 
one  from  investigating  independently  any  subject  that  demanded 
careful  examination,  or  from  adhering  firmly  to  the  opinion  he 
should  be  led  to  form,  and  freely  advocating  what  he  had  con- 
cluded to  be  the  correct  view.  Therefore,  when  the  controversy 
about  Images  came  up  before  him,  he  felt  no  awe  of  emperor  or 
pontifl',  borrowed  his  arguments  neither  from  Constantinople  nor 
Pome,  but  called  his  ecclesiastics,  at  the  head  of  whom  was  Al- 
cuin,  around  him,  and  with  their  help  gave  to  the  world  a  full 
and  clear  statement  of  his  belief  with  regard  to  the  topic  under 
dispute  in  "The  Four  Caroline  Books."  Having  to  contend 
against  hereditaiy  and  gross  idolatry  in  those  barbarians  whom 
he  baptized  by  thousands  at  the  edge  of  the  battle-axe,  he  was 
not  likely  to  look  with  great  favor  upon  any  practice  that  seemed 
to  ape  their  degrading  superstition.  Besides  which  he  was  doubt- 
less incensed  against  Irene,  on  account  of  the  slight  she  put  upon 


THE  ICONOCLASTIC  COXTROVEBSY.  2Y7 

liim  by  refusing  to  fulfill  a  contract  of  marriage  between  her  son 
Constantino  and  liis  daughter  Rothrud. 

Both  parties  had  run  to  extremes,  after  the  nsual  fashion  of 
disputants.  On  the  one  hand,  the  advocates  of  I  mage- worship  had 
gone  such  lengths  that,  although  in  theory  they  preserved  various 
nice  distinctions  which  protected  them  from  the  guilt  of  inten- 
tionally transgressing  the  Second  Commandment,  in  practice  they 
certainly  infringed  upon  the  forbidden  territory.  Indeed,  we  may 
make  a  bold  advance  and  say  that  their  whole  teaching  was  tinct- 
ured through  and  through  with  idolatry,  that  the  entire  drift  of 
the  current  was  carrying  them  in  that  direction,  and  that  their 
position  was  utterly  untenable  except  by  employment  of  defenses 
subversive  of  Christianity.  The  same  plea  which  they  were  so 
fond  of  advancing  would  justify  every  prostration  ever  made, 
unless  we  can  suppose  men  so  besotted  in  their  crass  ignorance 
as  to  confound  a  horrid,  grimacing,  shapeless  lump  of  stone  with 
the  immaterial  deity  their  souls  crave  to  know  and  address.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Iconoclasts  had  permitted  themselves  to  in- 
dulge in  some  very  ridiculous  assaults  upon  art.  If  a  less  fatal 
error  than  the  other,  this  was  by  no  means  without  injurious  re- 
sults. It  is  no  slight  mistake  to  dry  up  any  fountain  of  happiness 
that  the  Creator  has  caused  to  bubble  forth  in  the  human  bosom, 
to  rob  mankind  of  any  innocent  pleasure,  or  throw  down  any 
ladder  by  which  he  can  climb  nearer  to  heaven.  It  is  a  terrible 
crime  to  force  into  the  ranks  of  her  enemies  any  who  could  be 
faithful  and  useful  servants  of  the  Church,  as  those  were  attempt- 
ing to  do  who  put  forth  such  zealous  eiibrts  to  drive  art,  and  all 
who  loved  it,  from  within  the  sacred  precincts.  Idolatry  may  be 
worse  than  barrenness,  coarseness,  and  ugliness,  but  these  last  are 
bad  enough  if  they  repel  from  her  communion  those  who,  know- 
ing that  the  love  of  the  beautiful  is  a  gift  of  God,  shrink  from  a 
creed  which  surrenders  it  to  the  devil  and  dooms  to  starvation 
those  minds  that  are  cast  in  the  artistic  mould. 

It  is  greatly  to  the  credit  of  the  Westei'n  emperor  that  he  had 
the  wisdom  to  steer  a  middle  course,  avoiding  the  rocks  and  shoals 
which  lay  on  either  side  of  the  deep,  but  narrow,  chaimel ;  neither 
offering  insults  to  Infinite  Power  by  bowing  in  adoration  before  a 
mere  representation  as  though  it  were  divine,  nor  striving  to  root 
out  any  divinely-implanted  instincts  from  the  human  breast.  In 
his  elaborate  work,  Charlemagne  does  not   hesitate  to  criticise 


278  THE  CHURCH  AXD  THE  FAITH. 

freely  both  the  Image-worshipers  and  their  adversaries,  administer- 
ing, however,  the  severest  rebuke  to  that  party  whieli,  by  intro- 
ducing objectionable  and  dangerous  practices  into  the  Chm*cli,  had 
made  itself  responsible  for  the  whole  disturbance.  Nothing  in  it 
is  more  noteworthy,  perhaps,  than  his  treatment  of  the  argument 
which  had  been  drawn  from  the  custom  of  prostration  before 
images  of  the  emperor.  He  reasons  that  nothing  is  gained  by 
founding  one  bad  practice  upon  another,  and  especially  when  that 
other  is  a  mere  renmant  of  the  ancient  pagan  idolatry.  How  re- 
freshing is  such  language  after  breathing  the  stifling  air  of  the 
Byzantine  court !  Pope  Adrian  I.'s  weak  reply  failed  even  to 
shake  the  shield  of  his  mighty  adversary,  who  sat  not  less  firmly 
upon  the  steed  of  theological  controversy  than  he  did  upon  the 
strong  and  spirited  charger  which  was  accustomed  to  bear  his 
vast  bulk  through  dismayed  multitudes  on  the  banks  of  the  Weser 
and  the  Elbe.  The  views  which  had  been  so  powerfully  advo- 
cated by  their  sovereign  were  thoroughly  approved  by  the  Estates 
of  the  realm  when  thcv  assembled,  in  704,  at  Frankfort-on-the- 

*/  7  7 

Main,  to  consult  about  affairs  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical.  What- 
ever had  been  the  decision  of  the  former  council,  held  under 
Pepin,  at  Gentilly,  no  doubt  envelops  the  attitude  of  this  noted 
assembly  towards  Image-worship.  The  worst  charge  that  can  be 
laid  at  its  feet  is  that  of  having  unjustly  accused  the  second  coun- 
cil of  Nice  with  having  assigned  the  same  kind  of  worship  to 
pictures  that  is  due  to  the  ever-blessed  Trinity ;  whereas  it  had 
distinctly  asserted  the  contrary, — although  the  imperfect  reports  of 
its  acts  which  had  reached  Frankfort  might  not  have  been  explicit 
upon  this  point. 

Similar  views  were  advanced  by  a  council  which  met  in  Paris 
in  825,  having  been  convoked  by  Lewis  the  Pious  on  occasion  of 
the  embassy  sent  to  him  by  Michael  the  Stammerer,  begging  that 
he  would  use  his  influence  to  obtain  the  Pope's  sanction  of  the 
proceedings  against  Image- worship.  This  synod  rejected  Adrian's 
letter,  with  some  tenderness  for  that  prelate's  reputation,  and  ap- 
proved of  the  retention  of  Images  and  their  employment  as  helps 
to  the  memory,  understanding,  and  imagination,  but  reprobated 
the  use  of  them  as  stimulants  to  devotion  by  repeating  one's 
prayers  before  them.  The  emperor  and  the  council  both  attempted 
to  reconcile  Pope  Eugenius  and  Michael,  but  did  not  meet  with 
much  success.     Still,  the  flattering  regard  they  showed  for  the 


THE  ICONOCLASTIC  C0NTB0VEB8T.  279 

papal  cliair  won  upon  its  occupant  so  far  as  to  remove  any  dis- 
position he  may  have  had  to  adopt  harsh  measures  against  his 
Frankish  allies.  As  for  the  two  emperors,  they  seem  to  have 
heen  in  entire  sympathy  with  each  other,  Michael  not  being  at  all 
a  violent  Iconoclast.  Certain  prelates,  especially  Agobard,  arch- 
bishop of  Lyons,  and  Claudius,  bishop  of  Turin,  wrote  in  favor  of 
a  total  abolition  of  pictures,  or  even  strove  to  banish  them  from 
the  churches  under  their  jurisdiction  by  forcible  ejectment ;  but 
the  general  sentiment  of  the  empire  was  on  the  side  of  moderation. 

France  by  no  means  stood  alone  in  her  refusal  to  accept  the 
Komish  doctrine  of  Image-worship.  Britain,  in  particular,  showed 
no  hesitation  in  following  her  example,  and  may  have  even  united 
formally  with  Charlemagne  and  the  council  of  Frankfort  in  their 
decisions.  Indeed  the  entire  West,  with  the  exception  of  Italy, 
set  its  face  like  a  flint  against  the  fatal  decrees  of  the  second 
Nicene  synod. 

Unfortunately,  this  bright  scene  soon  becomes  overcast,  as  the 
dense  vapor  of  papal  corruption  spreads  upon  the  fair  face  of 
Europe ;  but  through  it  all  shines  down  to  our  day  bright  rays 
from  the  beacon-light  which  Frankfort  erected  upon  such  a  well- 
chosen  site. 


CHAPTER  XY. 

THE   SCHISM   OF   THE   EAST   AND   WEST. 

Although  the  Creator  had  designed  that  all  men  should,  as 
far  as  possible,  live  amicably  together,  the  wicked  folly  of  the 
tower-builders  made  it  necessary  for  Him  to  confound  their  lan- 
guage and  disperse  them  over  the  face  of  the  earth.  Unity  is  a 
most  desirable  condition,  but  one  for  which  it  is  not  wise  to  sacri- 
fice everything  else,  especially  since  all  that  can  be  bought  is  the 
mere  shadow,  the  substance  being  of  too  precious  a  nature  ever  to 
be  exposed  in  the  market.  Of  what  value  is  outward  harmony 
when  deep  beneath  the  surface  rankle  envy,  jealousy,  and  hate? 
We  have  arrived  at  a  period  in  church  history  when  the  scene  of 
Babel  was  reenacted  upon  a  wider  theatre,  God  once  more  de- 
scending to  scatter  those  who  were  plotting  against  His  supremacy. 

It  becomes  necessary  for  us  to  survey  the  subject  of  church 
authority  in  matters  of  doctrine  from  a  different  standpoint.  We 
have  accepted  the  theory  that  the  decree  of  a  General  Council, 
when  it  has  once  been  ratified  by  a  large  majority  of  the  national 
and  provincial  churches,  is  to  be  received  with  unquestioning  sub- 
mission, on  the  ground  that  it  has  then  become  an  authoritative 
utterance  of  that  Church  to  which  was  promised  the  Holy  Spirit's 
infallible  guidance.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  apparent  to  all 
who  will  be  at  the  pains  of  thinking  about  the  matter,  that  there 
is  no  guarantee,  other  than  our  Lord's  covenant,  that,  not  only  a 
large  proportion,  but  the  whole  mass,  of  the  Church  would  not 
lapse  into  error.  If  that  body  contained  none  but  good  and  sin- 
cere men,  and  if  good  and  sincere  men  always  held  the  truth, 
then  the  conclusion  that  the  voice  of  the  Church  must  be  the  voice 
of  God  would  be  irrefragable ;  but,  unfortunately,  the  fold  contains 
many  wolves  in  sheep's  clothing,  and  the  sheep  themselves  often 
straggle  away  into  the  wastes  of  heresy  ;  and  therefore  the  assur- 
ance which  we  sought  has  evaded  our  grasp.    There  is  no  inherent 


TEE  SCHISM  OF  THE  EAST  AND    WEST.  £81 

iufiillibility  in  the  Church ;  nor  is  there  anything  in  Scripture  to 
forbid  our  believing  that  a  very  large  majority  of  her  members 
has,  at  certain  periods,  departed  from  the  true  standard  both  in 
faith  and  morals.  It  is  true  that  there  are  those  pi-omises  upon 
which  we  have  built  our  theoiy  of  general  councils,  but  wq  are 
not  permitted  to  interpret  those  blessed  and  comforting  words  a 
priori.  What  Christ's  exact  meaning  was  in  uttering  them  we 
can  safely  decide  only  by  studying  their  fulfillment  in  church 
history,  since  otherwise  we  would  expose  ourselves  to  perils  as 
imminent  as  those  of  the  rash  individual  who  ventures  to  dogma- 
tize about  the  exposition  of  prophecy  before  the  happening  of  the 
events  predicted.  After  the  progress  of  time  has  brought  about 
the  events,  then  we  can  look  back  and  wonderingly  trace  out  their 
entire  correspondence  with  the  prophecy :  so,  as  the  scroll  of  ec- 
clesiastical history  slowly  unrolls  itself  before  us,  we  gradually 
ascertain,  with  some  degree  of  exactness,  what  the  promise  that 
it  should  be  guided  into  all  truth  signified.  The  words  them- 
selves justified  our  looking  for  some  kind  of  divine  direction  and 
control :  more  than  this,  they  enabled  us  to  form  hypotheses  which 
■we  could  verify  by  reference  to  the  transactions,  or  resolved  them- 
selves into  tests  by  which  we  could  try  hypotheses  framed  from 
these  transactions.  By  such  means  we  arrived  at  the  theory  that 
the  method  by  which  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  was  to  be  ascertained, 
consists  in  assembling  a  council,  and  sending  down  its  decrees  to 
the  various  churches,  to  be  finally  approved  or  rejected  by  them. 
K,  therefore,  we  understand  aright  the  promise  of  the  Church's 
great  Head,  and  are  not  mistaken  in  laying  down  the  two  requi- 
sites of  conciliar  action  and  xiniversal  ratification^  no  decree  of  a 
council  is  binding  unless  sanctioned  by  the  popular  voice,  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  no  opinion,  however  widely  it  may  seem  to  be 
held,  involves  the  Church's  credit  until  it  has  been  definitely  and 
formally  promulgated  by  a  recognized  deliberative  body  of  that 
vast  corporation. 

Had  the  Church  preserved  its  unity  much  beyond  the  period 
at  which  we  have  paused  to  glance  around  us  and  take  the  bear- 
ings of  certain  points,  we  can  hardly  doubt  that  erroneous  dogmas 
would  have  been  saddled  upon  it.  In  order  to  avert  so  dire  a 
calamity.  Providence  made  the  assembling  of  a  general  council 
impossible,  by  ordering  that  just  at  that  juncture  the  forces  of  dis- 
ruption should  overcome  the  power  of  adhesion  which  had  so  long 


282  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

kept  tliera  under  restraint,  and  permanently  divide  the  organi- 
zation into  two  nearly  equal  portions.  Or,  if  any  one  objects  to 
the  use  of  phraseology  which  seems  to  make  the  All-good,  even 
remotely,  responsible  for  an  evil,  let  us  say  that,  when  God  ap- 
pointed general  councils  to  be  the  means  by  which  He  would  fence 
in  revealed  truth  with  authoritative  formula3,  lie  foresaw  that  as 
soon  as  they  should  threaten  to  become  instrumental  in  destroying 
the  faith,  the  wickedness  of  man  would  culminate  in  a  catast/ophe 
which  would  render  it  thenceforth  impossible  to  hold  such  a  synod. 
But,  it  will  be  demanded,  if  the  Church  was  split  into  halves, 
must  not  one  of  these  have  ceased  to  be  tlie  Church,  for  otherwise 
there  would  no  longer  have  been  one  body  of  Christ,  since  two 
would  have  equal  chiim  to  the  title  and  honor?  Is  such  reason- 
ing, we  would  reply,  very  cogent?  When  a  family  quarrel  be- 
comes 60  violent  that,  like  Lot  and  Abraham,  the  members  are 
obliged  to  share  the  land  between  theui,  do  they  cease  to  be  the 
children  of  one  connnon  ancestor,  lose  the  features  and  traits  of 
character  which  are  derived  from  that  source,  and  forfeit  their 
titles  to  the  inheritance?  We  are  very  much  disposed  to  think 
that  there  are  ties  which  survive  any  loss  of  external  unity.  Di- 
vide the  Anglo-Saxon  race  into  a  dozen  nations,  and  it  would  still 
be  the  same  indomitable,  enterprising,  all-subduing  race.  So  with 
the  Church  of  God:  it  has  a  unity  which  very  severe  rending 
fails  to  destroy.  But  this  notion  of  an  internal  and  inseverable 
bond  belongs  to  the  theory  of  an  invisible  church,  and  is  altogether 
out  of  place  in  a  theory  built  upon  the  doctrine  of  a  regularly- 
incorporated  body !  Not  so,  unless  to  insist  that  man  has  a  body 
amounts  to  a  denial  that  he  has  a  soul.  "We  do  not  believe  in  in- 
visible families,  nor  in  invisible  nations  or  races,  though  we  do 
think  that  all  these  are  held  together,  to  a  very  great  extent,  by 
ligaments  that  the  senses  could  never  discover.  The  outward, 
visible  union  of  the  corporation  ecclesiastical  was  lost,  but  the 
inner  remained  without  experiencing  serious  disturbance.  The 
mutual  excommunication  of  the  two  Homes  was  as  though  Jacob 
and  Esau  had  continued  to  reside  under  their  father's  roof,  each 
refusing  to  convei"se  with  the  other  and  going  the  length  of  pro- 
claiming that  his  brother  had  forfeited  his  birthright,  and  yet  both 
still  partaking  of  Isaac's  food  and  enjoying  all  the  privileges  of 
sons.  Such  dissensions  are  most  deplorable,  but  do  not  interfere 
with  the  title  of  an  innocent,  or  of  an  offending,  cliild  to  the  pre- 


THE  SCHISM  OF  THE  EAST  AND    WEST.  283 

rogatives  of  sonship,  until  tlie  parent  takes  the  side  of  one  faction 
and  drives  the  other  from  his  hearth.  It  was  a  sad  day  for  Chris- 
tianity which  saw  East  and  West  committed  to  perpetual  hostility ; 
and  yet  botli  sections  preserved  the  creeds  and  the  dogmatic  faith 
of  the  undivided  Church,  retained  a  valid  ministry,  and  adhered 
to  lawful  and  sufficient  methods  of  administering  the  sacraments  ; 
nor  did  they  intentionally  sever  themselves  from  the  communion 
of  the  faithful.  If  Rome  was  in  the  right,  Constantinople  hon- 
estly thought  the  contrary.  If  both  were  about  equally  culpable, 
then  it  is  hard  to  say  that  either  excommunicated  herself  from  the 
Catholic  Church  by  withdrawing  from  the  fellowship  of  the  other. 
In  His  garden  God  had  planted  a  tender  shoot,  which  had  grown 
upwards  and  spread  outwards,  until  its  magnificence  was  unsur- 
passed by  the  stateliest  cedar  of  Lebanon,  and  its  pride  threatened 
to  poison  the  currents  of  its  life  and  convert  its  smooth-cheeked 
and  luscious  fruit  into  apples  of  Sodom.  Down  shot  the  bolt  of 
righteous  retribution,  smiting  fair  upon  the  heart  of  the  tree  and 
splitting  it  asunder  to  the  very  roots.  Eastward  and  westward 
bent  the  two  halves,  looking  persistently  away  from  each  other, 
till  they  had  grown  apart  and  almost  succeeded  in  themselves 
forgetting,  and  in  causing  others  to  forget,  that  one  common  life 
flowed,  with  the  sap,  from  common  roots  to  the  outmost  extremities 
of  both.  Though  less  strong  to  resist  the  hurricane's  blast,  and 
far  less  imposing  than  if  symmetrical  branches  had  continued  to 
spring  gracefully  from  all  sides  of  a  single  upright  and  massive 
trunk,  the  tree  was  still  in  reality  but  one  tree,  the  very  one  which 
the  Divine  Hand  had  put  into  the  ground  and  the  Divine  care 
had  nurtured  through  all  the  years,  growing  and  flourishing  by 
the  life  its  planter  had  infused  into  it,  presenting  the  aspect  of 
two  separate  stocks,  and  yet  united  indissolubly  beneath  the  sur- 
face in  a  matted  system  of  roots  which,  drawing  nourishment  from 
a  light,  porous,  and  rich  soil,  brought  all  their  tributaries  into  one 
grand  stream,  before  sending  their  supplies  up  through  the  rival 
trunks. 

The  tree  may  not  be  killed  by  a  stroke  that  splits  it  from  top 
to  bottom,  but  it  must  be  seriously  injured.  How  much  of  its 
strength  must  be  expended  in  repairing  loss  and  healing  wounds! 
How  much,  too,  has  its  permanent  value  been  diminished  !  And 
who  can  calculate  the  amount  of  detriment  which  accrued  to  the 
Church  Catholic  from  the  Great  Schism  ?     What  immense  injury 


284  TEE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

has  been  done  to  religion  by  tlie  unedifying  spectacle  of  the  two 
halves  of  the  Christian  Church  fulminating  anathemas  at  each 
other  through  centuries  of  discord  !  How  have  the  minds  of  sin- 
cere inquirers  been  perplexed  bj  the  contradictory  claims  advanced 
by  the  two  sections !  ^yhat  waste  of  force  has  resulted  from  the 
directing  against  each  other  of  efforts  that  ouglit  to  have  been 
leveled  aerainst  sin  and  heathenism  !  And  tlie  Church  drew  down 
upon  itself  the  bolt  that  so  nearly  crushed  it.  Of  all  offenses 
against  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  world,  that  must  be  the  most 
hateful  to  Him  which  amounts  to  a  denial  of  His  sovereignty  or 
to  a  direct  rejection  of  it ;  and  especially  must  this  be  true  in  the 
case  of  the  Church,  which  He  has  purchased  with  His  o^vn  blood, 
and  over  which  Ho  reigns  with  a  peculiarly  loving  care.  The 
great  crime  of  ancient  Israel,  the  one  which  tirst  divided  it  into 
two  kingdoms  and  tlien  drove  the  various  tribes  into  captivity  and 
dispersion,  was  that  of  unfaithfulness  to  Jehovah  in  the  forsaking 
of  His  altars  for  those  of  Baal,  Ashtaroth,  Moloch,  and  Milcom. 
The  first  act  of  apostasy  on  tlie  part  of  the  Spiritual  Israel  was 
when  it  stooped  to  kiss  the  feet  of  Constantine  the  Great,  seeking 
the  support  of  a  despot's  arm,  in  apparent  distrust  of  that  mighty 
hand  which  had  so  often  scattered  its  enemies  before  it.  A  sec- 
ond and  worse  act  occurred  when,  at  the  beck  of  Irene,  the  Second 
Council  of  Nice  turned,  as  it  were,  its  back  upon  the  Mercy-seat, 
and  fell  prone  to  earth  before  the  rising  sun  of  Image-worship. 
Could  God  smile  upon  such  rebellion  ?  He  could  not,  but  scourged 
His  revolted  subjects  terribly  by  the  rod  of  the  Arabian  impostor, 
whose  frantic  hordes  burst  almost  literally  from  the  bottomless  pit, 
and  carried  devastation  with  them  over  the  fairest  portions  of 
Asia  and  Africa,  not  to  say  Europe,  like  the  locust-swarms  of  the 
desert;  and  finally  lighted  up  the  murky  heavens  with  one  flash  of 
righteous  indignation,  while  the  lightning  sped  upon  its  errand  of 
disniption.  If  man  will  fight  against  God,  then  ought  he  to 
expect  that  God  will  presently  fight  against  him,  and  overwhelm 
him  with  a  swift  destruction. 

Yet  natural  causes  did  not  fail  to  operate  and  produce  their 
due  results.  The  union  of  Church  and  State  inevitably  involved 
the  one,  more  or  less,  in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  other.  If  the 
Church  Catholic  allowed  itself  to  become  identified  with  the 
Koman  empire,  whatever  affected  the  latter  must  affect  the 
former.     The  enemies  of  Rome  would  look  vf'ith  disfavor  upon 


THE  SCHISM  OF  THE  EAST  AND   WEST.  285 

the  Cluircli  established  in  her  realms.  We  cannot  have  failed  to 
notice  how  the  quarrels  of  rival  emperors  were  accompanied  by  dis- 
putes between  the  leading  prelates  of  their  respective  dominions. 
Still,  the  conservative  principle  was  incomparably  stronger  in  the  re- 
ligious than  in  the  civil  corporation,  as  is  proved  by  the  multiplicity 
of  the  convulsions  through  which  the  empire  had  passed  before  the 
two  patriarchs  found  in  Zeno's  unfortunate  Henoticon  a  barrier 
sufficient  to  hold  them  apart  for  thirty-five  years.  Eight  years 
previous  to  Felix's  withdrawal  of  his  see  from  the  Byzantine  com- 
munion, the  last  emperor  of  the  West  had  dropped  from  his  feeble 
grasp  the  sceptre  which  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  Ilonorius 
when  the  final  division  took  place  upon  the  death  of  Theodosius. 
Had  the  Church  not  weakened  itself  by  getting  into  a  false  posi- 
tion, what  a  strong  band  might  it  not  have  been  to  bind  together 
the  fi'agments  of  the  once  gloi'ious  empire  of  the  Caesars!  Would 
not  the  entire  course  of  history  have  been  far  different  had  it  only 
been  true  to  itself,  and  put  its  whole  reliance  upon  the  Lord  God 
of  Hosts,  instead  of  entering  into  forbidden  alliances  with  worldly 
powers  ?  But  having  once  seated  herself  in  the  gilded  chair  of 
servitude  at  the  invitation  of  Constantino,  the  Church  could  not 
easily  rise  and  choose  another.  From  that  time  onwards  she  was 
in  a  great  measure  identified  with  her  master,  but  yet  displayed, 
to  the  very  end  of  the  tragedy,  a  marvelous  tenacity  of  adhesion, 
only  yielding  to  the  disruptive  agencies  when  her  patience  had 
been  worn  out  by  repeated  failures  in  her  eflforts  to  preserve  peace 
within  her  own  borders,  and  not  till  long  after  the  Franks  had 
finally  detached  Italy  from  the  Greek  empire,  which  was  then 
waning  rapidly. 

A  dominion  which  reached  over  large  portions  of  three  con- 
tinents M-as  too  vast  to  be  enduring.  In  the  mighty  empire  of 
Augustus  and  his  successors,  the  line  of  cleavage  was  indicated 
by  the  seam  of  contact  between  the  two  civilizations  which  had 
sprung  from  the  two  famous  peninsulas  of  Southern  Europe.  In 
the  progress  of  centuries  repeated  blows  upon  the  seam  produced 
their  proper  result,  and  the  Church  fell  asunder,  likewise,  as  soon 
as  the  force  of  disruption  had  time  to  work  upon  it.  The  real 
causes,  therefore,  of  the  separation  between  Rome  and  Constanti- 
nople were  political.  Yet  there  were  not  wanting  such  minor 
causes  as  lay  in  subjects  of  controversy  which  could  easily  have 
reached  an  amicable  settlement  had  it  not  been  fur  the  major  ones 


286  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

which  lay  behind  and  pushed  the  others  forward.  Among  tliese 
secondary  agencies,  the  iconoclastic  controversy  was  not  without 
its  influence,  but  far  more  important  in  prolonging,  if  not  in 
creating,  the  breach  was  a  dispute  which  turned  upon  the  right 
of  the  Latins  to  insert  a  clause  in  the  creed  of  the  general  coun- 
cils. We  have  purposely  omitted  to  mention  the  arrogance  of 
the  Roman  pontiff  as  a  cause  of  disunion,  not  because  we  are  not 
disposed  to  allow  it  great  importance,  but  because  we  consider  it 
in  the  main  a  political  one,  inasmuch  as  the  rise  of  tlie  papacy 
was  due  to  the  connection  of  the  church  with  the  state,  and  in 
the  absence  of  that  unfortunate  relation  never  could  have  taken 
place. 

The  Visigoths,  the  barbarians  who  conquered  Spain,  long  re- 
fused to  accept  the  decrees  of  ISi  ica^a.  At  length  Ilermenegild, 
converted  from  Arianism  by  the  noble  constancy  to  her  faith  of 
the  Merovingian  princess  whom  he  had  married,  refused  to  dis- 
honor himself  by  a  repudiation  of  his  real  sentiments,  and,  after 
several  unsuccessful  attempts  against  his  father's  throne,  was  re- 
luctantly sentenced  by  him  to  receive  the  usual  punishment  of 
treason.  The  faith  ot^  Ilermenegild  and  his  fair  spouse  Inguldis 
was  professed  by  his  younger  brother  Rccared,  who,  upon  obtain- 
ing the  sceptre,  proceeded,  with  great  wisdom  and  moderation,  to 
bring  his  people  over  to  the  same  profession,  and  in  589  held  a 
provincial  synod  of  seventy  bishops  at  Toledo.  This  assembly 
imdcrtook  the  dangerous  and  unwarrantable  task  of  adding  to 
the  Nicene  Creed, — that  formula  which  had  been  set  forth  at  the 
first  general  council,  slightly  enlarged  by  the  second,  and  in  the 
form  it  then  assumed  ratified  by  three  later  ones,  and,  at  least  im- 
plicitly, by  a  fourth, — that  formula  which  was  fenced  around  by 
the  decrees  of  six  assemblies  received  as  oecumenical  by  the  whole 
of  Christendom, — that  formula  which  had  been  hallowed  by  the 
devoted  attachment  and  loyal  support  of  saints  and  martyrs  from 
Athanasius  and  Hilary  of  Poictiers,  from  Gregory  Nazienzen  and 
Theodoret,  to  Pontianus  and  Reparatus,  to  Maxinms  and  Martin, 
— of  adding  to  that  venerable  and  sacred  Creed  a  few  words 
which  were  thought  to  be  required  by  the  immediate  emergency. 
Strange  that  a  small  gathering  of  bishops  from  a  single  province 
should  think  itself  competent  to  manufacture  a  better  creed  than 
the  whole  Christian  Church  had  made  !  The  Fathers,  of  381,  had 
said  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost  that  He  proceedeth  from  the  Father, 


THE  SCHISM  OF  THE  EAST  AND    WEST.  287 

but  this  did  not  satisfy  the  Spaniards.  They  thought  that  due 
regard  for  the  honor  of  the  Son  required  the  addition  of  such 
words  as  would  declare  that  the  Spirit  emanates  also  from  Him, 
and  so  made  the  sentence  run,  "  Who  proceedeth  from  the  Father 
and  the  Son,''  the  added  clause,  in  the  Latin  tongue,  being 
'•'■  Filioqxier  This  innovation  maintained  its  ground,  spread  into 
France,  and  was  gradually  adopted  by  the  whole  Western  Church, 
but  was  received  with  an  outcry  by  the  Orientals,  and  denounced 
for  at  least  two  weighty  reasons. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Greeks  objected  to  the  clause  as  an  un- 
authorized addition.  It  is  true  that  great  liberty  of  creed-making 
was  permitted  in  the  early  church,  but  this  had  been  curtailed  by 
the  oecumenical  councils.  There  is  no  evident  impropriety  in  the 
establishment  by  universal  consent  of  one  carefully  drawn  formula 
as  a  symbol  of  faith  for  the  entire  body,  the  confession  of  which 
shall  entitle  any  member  of  the  church  to  communion  every- 
where; and  when  such  a  step  had  been  taken,  no  church  that 
should  presume  to  alter  that  creed  could  shelter  itself  behind  the 
quibble  that  great  latitude  had  been  allowed  in  the  apostolic  age. 
If  the  collective  body  was  not  competent  to  issue  a  symbol  which 
no  individual  and  no  particular  church  would  have  any  right  to 
change  in  the  smallest  degree,  then  we  must  think  that  its  pre- 
tension to  be  an  organized  society  was  one  of  the  merest  shams 
that  were  ever  invented.  Now,  that  the  FlUoque  clause  was  not 
contained  in  the  original  creed  is  beyond  question.  The  Latin 
patriarch  himself  is  on  record  against  it,  in  a  somewhat  remark- 
able manner.  A  complaint  having  been  brought  before  the  synod 
of  Aix,  in  809,  that  certain  Frankish  pilgrims  had  been  harshly 
treated  in  Jerusalem  on  account  of  this  addition  to  the  creed,  and 
the  assembly  having  ranged  itself  on  the  side  of  their  country- 
men, Charlemagne  laid  the  matter  before  the  pope,  whereupon 
Leo,  although  declaring  himself  a  believer  in  the  Double  Proces- 
sion, pronounced  against  the  unauthorized  insertion  of  the  Clause, 
and  had  the  Creed  engraved  in  Greek  and  Latin  on  two  silver 
shields,  without  the  Filioque,  and  set  up  in  St.  Peter's. 

The  opposition  of  the  Greeks  did  not  rest  wholly  upon  formal 
grounds,  but  extended  to  the  doctrine  expressed,  which,  they  con- 
tended, was  subversive  of  the  Father's  Monarchy,  since  it  taught 
the  existence  of  two  dpxai  (archse),  or  sources,  in  the  Godhead. 
To  this  the  Latins  replied  that  the  Holy  Ghost  was  called  in 


288  THE  CHURCH  AliD  THE  FAITH. 

Scripture  the  Spirit  of  the  Son  as  "well  as  of  the  Father,  and  that 
the  former  was  said  to  have  authority  to  send  Him  into  the 
world,  and  in  general  that  the  procession  from  both  the  other  per- 
sons of  the  Holy  Trinity  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible.  That  the 
temporal  mission,  or  sending  forth  in  time,  of  the  Spirit  was  at- 
tributable to  both  the  Father  and  the  Son  was  denied  by  neither 
party.  The  dispute  turned  upon  His  eternal  procession,  or  origin, 
and  was  chiefly  due  to  the  clumsiness  of  the  Latin  language,  in 
which  the  word  corresponding  to  our  "  proceedeth  from"  had  not 
the  fullness  of  meaning  discoverable  in  the  Greek  synonym. 
EKnopevofxevov  (Ecporeuomenon)  contains  the  idea  of  issuing  forth 
as  from  a  fountain,  whereas  the  Latin  did  not  imply  necessarily  any 
more  than  such  a  derivation  as  is  expressed  in  the  phrase,  Who 
proceedeth  from  the  Father  tkroxujh  the  Son.  All  the  demands 
of  the  Latin  would  be  met  by  a  procession  from  the  Son  as  from 
a  medium  of  communication,  whereas  the  Greek  required  that 
the  Son  should  be  a  source,  fountain,  or  independent  origin.  It 
was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Orientals  would  regard  very  com- 
placently an  innovation  which,  according  to  their  idiom,  opened 
two  distinct  springs  of  being  or  essence  in  the  Godhead,  and  con- 
sequently overthrew, by  necessary  deduction,  the  very  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity  which  it  had  been  introduced  to  support;  for  they 
were  acute  enough  to  perceive  that,  if  the  Son  was  an  independ- 
ent source  of  the  divine  substance,  He  must  be  an  independent 
God. 

The  coronation  of  Charlemagne,  in  the  year  800,  as  emperor  of 
the  West  severed  the  last  link  which  bound  the  Latin  patriarch 
to  the  Byzantine  throne,  but  the  century  thus  inaugurated  had 
nearly  expired  before  the  firmer  bands  of  religious  union  had  been 
broken,  and  Rome  and  Constantinople  stood  shouting  defiance  at 
each  other  across  an  impassable  chasm.  The  disruption  was  im- 
mediately occasioned  by  two  men  of  remarkable  character  who 
were  advanced  to  those  sees,  respectively,  about  the  middle  of  this 
century.  The  pontificate  of  Nicholas  I.  is  memorable  as  the 
commencement  of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  papacy.  It 
was  his  peculiar  good  fortune  to  be  thrown  by  his  ambition  itself 
upon  the  side  of  the  right,  to  become  on  two  occasions  seemingly 
the  champion  of  the  oppressed,  thus  winning  to  himself  popular 
sympathy  while  striving  vigorously  to  establish  precedents  utterly 
destructive  of  law  and  liberty.      His  claims  to  autocratic  rule 


THE  SCHISM  OF  THE  EAST  AND   WEST.  289 

covered  both  the  civil  and  the  ecclesiastical  domain.  Lothaire, 
brother  of  Lewis  II.,  then  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  himself  king 
of  Lotharingia,  having  separated  from  his  lawful  wife  Theutberga, 
and  married  another,  named  Waldrada,  was  by  him  not  only 
threatened  with  exconnnunication  unless  he  should  reform  his 
manner  of  living,  but  was  also  given  to  understand  that  the  pope 
had  doubts  of  his  title  to  be  called  king  as  long  as  he  continued 
the  sinful  connection:  this,  of  course,  was  nothing  more  than 
the  faintest  premonitory  symptom  of  the  unbounded  assumption 
regarding  the  two  swords,  of  temporal  and  spiritual  dominion, 
which  Hildebrand  was  to  put  forth.  In  another  affair  Nicholas 
successfully  intermeddled  in  the  private  concerns  of  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Eheims  on  behalf  of  a  suffragan  whom  Hinemar  had 
degraded,  but  did  not  subdue  the  Frankish  prelate  without  a 
severe  struggle,  nor  without  having  recourse  to  those  Decretals 
which  the  unscrupulous  piety  of  the  age  had  forged  in  the  name 
of  Isidore,  a  celebrated  bishop  of  Seville  in  the  sixth  century.  In 
these  and  other  contests  Nicholas  manifested  considerable  skill 
and  determination,  and  made  some  little  show  of  courage:  he  also 
gained  some  applause.  He  particularly  distinguished  himself  in  a 
strucffle  which  brought  him  face  to  face  with  the  most  learned 
ecclesiastic  of  the  age. 

It  was  the  crime  of  Ignatius,  as  upright  and  conscientious  a 
prelate  as  ever  sat  in  the  chair  of  Gregory  and  Chrysostom,  to 
have  taken  the  Baptist  for  his  model  and  rebuked  the  dissolute 
minister  of  a  dissolute  emperor  for  committing  incest  with  his 
son's  widow.  To  punish  his  fidelity,  Michael  III.  raised  a  lay- 
man, on  six  consecutive  days,  through  the  six  ordinations  (three  of 
them  being  to  what  are  known  as  ininor  orders)  which  had  then 
become  necessary,  and  set  him  in  the  throne  which  really  be- 
longed to  Ignatius.  The  new  honors  doubtless  sat  lightly  enough 
upon  a  head  long  accustomed  to  civic  triumphs.  Already  he  was 
commander  of  the  imperial  guard,  first  senator  of  Constantinople, 
and  chief  private  secretary  to  the  emperor,  when  selected  to  fill 
the  highest  position  in  the  Eastern  Church.  The  vast  range  of 
his  erudition  and  the  vigor  of  his  mind  gave  ample  assurance  that 
he  could  cope  with  the  intellectual  demands  of  his  station.  Nor 
is  there  much  in  the  history  of  his  episcopate  to  show  that  the 
emperor's  choice  had  not  been  even  wiser  yet, — from  the  standpoint 
of  a  licentious  monarch  anxious  to  escape  the  irritation  of  being 


290  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

reprimanded  for  bis  misdeeds,  or  in  any  way  reminded  of  their 
sinfulness,— as  Photius,  with  all  his  talents  and  acquirements, 
seems  to  have  been  very  little  concerned  for  the  interests  of  true 
religion. 

Nicholas  took  the  part  of  Ignatius,  and  refused  to  recognize 
the  usurper.  In  862,  he  held  a  council  at  Eome  which  excom- 
municated Photius  and  his  adherents,  and  was  repaid  in  the  same 
coin  by  the  Eastern  patriarch,  who  manifested  singular  indiffer- 
ence to  the  anathemas  which  had  been  hurled  at  him.  It  is  not, 
however,  to  be  supposed  that  the  pope's  indignation  fed  only  upon 
pity  for  Ignatius ;  for  the  old  sore  of  rivalry  still  rankled,  and,  al- 
though the  image-worshiping  Photius  gave  no  provocation  on  the 
score  of  iconoclasm,  he  was  no  more  ready  than  his  predecessors 
to  concede  to  Rome  the  jurisdiction  she  claimed  over  provinces 
which  acknowledged  the  sway  of  the  Eastern  emperor,  and  par- 
ticularly now  over  Bulgaria,  which  had  lately  been  converted  by 
the  Greek  Church,  but  nevertheless  leaned  in  a  rather  strange 
manner  towards  the  Latins.  The  battle  continued  to  rage,  with 
some  intermissions,  after  Nicholas  had  been  taken  from  the  scene, 
and  even  after  Photius,  having  been  retired  by  Basil  the  Mace- 
donian, restored  by  him  on  the  death  of  Ignatius,  and  banished 
by  Leo  the  Philosopher,  had  ended  his  life  in  a  monastery  of 
Armenia.  It  is  difficult  to  decide  precisely  at  what  date  the  war- 
fare culminated  in  a  ])ermanent  cessation  of  friendly  intercourse, 
but  the  year  881  may  be  selected  as  near  enough  for  ordinary 
purposes. 

It  was  impossible  that  the  two  communions  should  not  come 
more  or  less  into  contact  with  each  other,  for  not  only  would 
merchants,  scholars,  and  other  members  of  either,  invade  the  ter- 
ritories of  the  other  for  purposes  of  commerce,  business,  learning, 
and  pleasure,  but  the  flags  of  the  powers  with  which  they  were 
allied  confronted  each  other  on  the  very  soil  of  Italy.  Constanti- 
nople held  sway  over  most  of  the  provinces  of  southern  Europe  as 
far  towards  the  Occident  as  Apulia;  which,  however,  was  at 
length  torn  from  its  feeble  hold  by  the  terrible  adventurers,  who 
marched  under  the  banner  of  William  of  Hauteville,  and  made  the 
name  of  the  Normans  so  dreadful  to  degenerate  Asiatic  or  undis- 
ciplined Italian.  The  wish  would  frequently  suggest  itself  to 
prince  or  patriarch  that  fraternal  relations  might  be  resumed,  so 
that  the  combined  strength  of  their  dominions,  civil  or  ecclesi- 


TBE  SCHISM  OF  THE  EAST  AND   WEST.  ^91 

astical,  niiglit  be  employed  upon  a  common  foe,  and  the  disagree- 
ableness  of  enmity  might  be  exchanged  for  the  dehghts  and  ad- 
vantages of  friendly  association.  In  or  about  the  year  1024  Basil 
IL,  a  warlike  monarch,  negotiated  with  a  pusillanimous  pope, 
John  XIX.,  for  a  peace  upon  the  basis  of  an  acknowledged  equal- 
ity of  the  two  sees ;  but  the  feeling  was  too  strong  in  the  West 
against  any  such  concessions  of  dignity  and  prerogative  to  allow 
the  prelate  to  enter  into  a  compact  of  that  nature.  The  ear  of 
Leo  the  Great  or  of  Nicholas  I.  could  never  have  been  gained  to 
a  proposal  so  contrary  to  their  lofty  claims,  but  a  succession  of 
weak  and  corrupt  occupants  had  at  this  time  greatly  lowered  the 
standing,  and  diminished  the  influence,  of  the  papacy.  A  further 
insult  was  offered  the  Latin  Church  by  Michael  Cerularius,  patri- 
arch of  Constantinople.  It  seems  that  mutual  courtesy  had 
established  the  custom  of  permitting  the  Greeks  to  use  their  own 
ritual  in  Rome,  and  the  Latins  theirs  in  the  other  capital.  Such 
liberality  was  distasteful  to  the  narrow  mind  of  this  ecclesiastic, 
who,  not  content  with  closing  all  tlie  churches  of  the  city  in  which 
the  rites  of  the  Romish  ritual  were  observed  and  taking  other 
measures  to  suppress  the  worshij)  of  that  communion,  was  inju- 
dicious or  malicious  enough  to  write,  with  the  assistance  of  Leo, 
bishop  of  Acrida,  a  passionate  letter  attacking  the  entire  Western 
Church.  Translating  this  letter  into  Latin,  Cardinal  ELumbert 
used  it  to  arouse  the  indignation  of  Leo  IX.  The  same  prelate 
proceeded,  with  little  reluctance,  to  break  a  lance  in  behalf  of  the 
Roman  see  by  replying  in  an  elaborate  and  powerful  refutation  of 
the  charges  directed  against  it.  The  rising  flame  at  once  caught 
the  eye  of  Constantino  Monomachus,  who,  in  the  hope  of  extin- 
guishing it,  immediately  addressed  himself  to  the  injured  prelate 
of  the  West.  Leo  consented  to  dispatch  three  commissioners  on 
an  embassy  to  Constantinople,  among  whom  was  the  cardinal  who 
had  already  shown  a  tendency  to  assume  the  championship.  The 
negotiations  did  not  go  on  smoothly,  for  neither  the  delegates  nor 
Michael  w^ere  likely  to  yield  a  single  point.  The  emperor  threw 
the  weight  of  his  influence  into  the  Roman  scale,  but  could  not 
overcome  the  inflexible  determination  of  the  patriarch  to  make  no 
concessions,  and  not  even  to  hold  any  intercourse  with  the  dele- 
gates. However,  an  incendiary  production  of  a  certain  Nicetas 
was  committed  to  the  flames,  and  he  himself  compelled  publicly, 
not  only  to  retract  what  he  had  written,  but  to  acknowledge  the 


292  THE  CEVRCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

supremacy  of  the  "Western  patriarch.  Then  the  legates  entered 
the  church  of  St.  Sophia,  and,  having  condemned  Michael  and  his 
followers,  placed  upon  the  altar  a  document  stating  this  fact  in 
fiery  language.  But  a  licentious  and  feeble  ruler  could  neither 
shield  the  envoys  fi'om  the  rising  wrath  of  the  populace,  nor  per- 
severe in  the  course  which  his  own  dignity  pointed  out.  After 
tlie  legates  had  profited  by  a  hint  he  contrived  to  give  them  and 
withdrawn  from  the  city,  he  was  obliged  to  surrender  at  discretion. 
The  haughty  patriarch  and  his  council,  in  the  year  1054,  hurled 
back  the  anathemas  of  Rome.  Thus,  instead  of  being  closed  up, 
the  breach  had  been  widened.  Henceforth  a  new  subject  of  con- 
troversy is  to  part  the  churches  and  aflbrd  opprobrious  epithets  to 
be  freely  used  whenever  the  strife  grows  hotter  than  usual.  The 
names  Azymites  and  Prozymites  shall  designate  those  who  be- 
lieve, with  Rome,  that  unleavened  bread  was  employed  at  the 
institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  ought  to  be  sedulously  pro- 
vided for  every  celebration  of  the  Eucharist,  and  those  who  think, 
with  Constantinople  and  the  remaining  patriarchates,  that  the 
common,  leavened  bread  of  every-day  use  will  both  fulfill  all  the 
requirements  and  proprieties  of  the  case,  and  also  more  exactly 
symbolize  the  doctrine  which  is  intended  to  be  taught  in  this 
sacrament. 

The  Crusades  had  the  effect  of  brincrin<r  the  Latins  into  closer 
proximity  to  the  Greeks  than  was  pleasing  either  to  the  state  or 
to  the  church  of  the  latter.  The  ingenuity  of  the  Byzantines  was 
sufficiently  exercised  during  the  first  three  of  those  movements  in 
diverting  from  themselves  the  ambitious,  avaricious,  and  warlike 
projects  of  the  numerous  hosts  who  flung  themselves  upon  trem- 
bling Asia.  At  length  the  day  came  when  Venetian  galleys, 
laden  with  martial  pilgrims,  after  having  reduced  Zara  to  subjec- 
tion, swept  by  the  Queen  of  the  Bosporus  and  came  to  anchor  in 
the  harbor  of  Chalcedon.  Disregarding  the  anathemas  of  Pope 
Innocent  III.,  the  leaders  had  lent  a  ready  ear  to  the  urgings  of 
the  young  Alexius,  who  had  been  traveling  through  portions  of 
Europe  in  the  hope  of  inducing  some  of  its  valiant  rulers  to  under- 
take the  cause  of  his  deposed  father.  The  promises  of  this  prince 
that  he  and  his  father  would,  immediately  upon  regaining  power, 
submit  themselves  to  the  Latin  patriarch,  and  that  he  would 
furnish  them  with  valuable  assistance  against  the  Saracens,  en- 
abled Dandolo  and  his  coadjutors  to  reconcile  their  consciences  to 


THE  SCHISM  OF  THE  EAST  AND    WEST.  293 

such  a  departure  from  their  original  plan  as  was  involved  in  a 
siege  of  Constantinople.  Evidently  some  master  mind  controlled 
their  counsels,  and  one  of  great  independence  and  courage,  too. 
That  leader  the  maritime  republic  had  given  them  in  a  man  whose 
heroic  soul  rose  superior  to  the  weight  of  more  years  than  are 
allotted  to  man  and  to  the  greater  disadvantage  of  sightlessness. 
Frank  valor  and  Venetian  skill  proved  an  overmatch  for  the  languid 
strength  of  the  reigning  Alexius,  who  fled  under  cover  of  the 
night  and  took  refuge  in  Thrace,  Isaac  Angelus  was  rescued  from  a 
dungeon,  and  crowned,  together  with  his  son,  beneath  the  dome 
of  St.  Sophia.  The  Latins  strenuously  urged  the  fulfillment  of 
the  stipulations  that  had  been  made  them  before  they  turned 
their  prows  towards  the  Dardanelles.  Alexius  could  not  overcome 
the  repugnance  of  his  subjects  to  concessions  so  degrading  in  their 
eyes  as  those  which  were  to  chain  them  to  the  footstool  of  the 
pope.  While  he  temporized,  occidental  patience  gradually  became 
exhausted,  till  three  envoys  from  each  of  the  two  allied  nations 
rode  through  an  angry  mob,  advanced  into  the  imperial  presence, 
and  bade  defiance  to  the  astonished  sovereigns.  The  war  was 
renewed.  Constantinople  endured  a  second  siege,  and  had  to 
submit  to  the  horrors  of  a  sack.  The  count  of  Flanders  ascended 
the  throne  under  the  name  of  Baldwin  I.,  in  the  year  1204 ;  and 
thus  was  established  a  Latin  empire  in  Constantinople.  During 
its  brief  existence  the  Greek  Church  suffered  much  humiliation ; 
but  speedily  emerged  from  the  shadow  when  Michael  Palseologus, 
in  1261,  wrenched  the  sceptre  from  the  hated  foreigners  and  re- 
stored it  to  the  successors  of  Constantino.  However,  a  party 
favorable  to  the  Western  doctrines  had  in  the  meantime  grown 
up.  Its  strength  was  partly  due  to  the  negotiations  of  John 
Yatatzes,  an  able  prince,  who  from  Nice  as  a  base  had  striven  to 
erect  once  more  the  fallen  monarchy,  and  with  a  view  to  com- 
passing that  end  had  sought  to  win  the  countenance  of  the  pope. 
In  connection  with  Germanus,  the  Byzantine  bishop,  he  had  made 
overtures  to  the  Boman  see,  which  drew  thence  an  embassage 
charged  with  a  somewhat  conciliatory  commission.  There  the 
matter  had  ended,  except  that  a  not  unimportant  party  sprang  up 
disposed  to  content  themselves  with  the  permission  to  omit  the 
Filioque,  and  with  such  other  concessions  as  were  offered  them. 
Michael  Palseologus  sought  to  strengthen  himself  on  the  newly 
recovered  throne  by  pushing  forward  similar  measures,  and  actu- 


294  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

ally  went  the  length  of  formally  recognizing  the  primacy  of  the 
pope  at  the  council  of  Lyons,  July  6th,  1274,  by  the  submission 
of  a  large  delegation  comprised  of  Germanus,  formerly  patriarch 
of  Constantinople,  the  metropolitan  of  Caesarea,  and  other  digni- 
taries who  were  under  the  influence  of  the  court.  Joseph  was 
deposed  from  the  patriarchal  throne  because  of  his  invincible  op- 
position to  the  treaty,  and  a  man  exalted  into  his  place  who  had 
been  brought  over  by  the  argument  of  a  prison-cell ;  but  nothing 
could  overcome  the  miiversal  repugnance  of  the  Greeks,  which 
of  course  triumphed  very  speedily.  Finding  that  a  persistent  at- 
tempt to  enforce  the  Union  would  alienate  many  even  of  his 
nearest  kin  and  closest  friends  from  him,  the  emperor  could  evince 
no  warmth  in  canying  out  the  treaty  he  had  been  at  so  much 
pains  to  make.  Upon  his  devoted  head  descended,  in  1281,  the 
bolt  of  papal  excommunication,  finishing  his  disgrace,  and  per- 
haps hastening  his  death,  which,  the  next  year,  was  the  signal  for 
the  dispersion  of  the  Latin  party. 

Dandolo  had  taught  the  Greek  Empire  that  its  capital  was  not 
impregnable.  From  the  day  that  the  baimer  of  St.  Mark  led  the 
crusaders  victorious  through  the  streets  of  Constantinople,  that 
city  trembled  at  the  distant  or  near  sound  of  the  Turkish  march, 
and  naturally  turned  for  protection  to  the  Christian  nations  of 
Europe.  When  the  emir  Orcban  was  rapidly  reducing  city  after 
city  of  Bithynia,  and  planting  the  crescent  in  sight  of  the  imperial 
palace,  Andronicus  II L  Palreologus,  bethought  him  to  send  am- 
bassadors, among  whom  was  the  learned  monk  Barlaam,  to  solicit 
peace  from  Pope  Benedict  XII.,  who  "  kept  his  state  "  at  Avignon. 
John  Cantacuzenc  opened  equally  fi-uitless  negotiations  with  the 
princely  and  dissolute  Clement  YL,  and  then,  threatened  on  every 
side  and  justly  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  his  throne,  John  Palseo- 
logus  I.  humbled  himself  before  L^rban  Y.  at  the  Yatican  itself. 
The  fated  period  drew  nigh  which  was  to  witness  the  overthrow 
of  Constantino's  marvelously  long-lived  empire.  At  length  the 
cannon  of  Am urath  hurled  their  death-dealing  missiles  over  the 
Byzantine  walls,  proclaiming  in  voices  of  thunder  that  the  end 
was  at  hand,  now  that  an  agent  of  destruction  had  been  found 
against  which  that  ancient  dependence,  Greek-fire,  could  not  hope 
to  hold  its  own.  No  expedient  suggested  itself  to  the  reigning 
prince  but  the  old  one  of  appealing  to  Western  Christendom.  The 
time  was  a  peculiarly  favorable  one,  too,  for  addressing  the  Latins, 


THE  SCHISM  OF  THE  EAST  AND   WEST.  295 

since  thej  were  at  strife  among  themselves,  and  either  party 
would,  therefore,  welcome  the  opportunity  of  winning  prestige  by 
bringing  about  a  reunion  with  the  Orient.  The  great  council  of 
Basle  had,  in  1431,  undertaken  several  most  important  tasks, 
among  which  were  those  of  reuniting  the  two  sections  of  Chris- 
tendom and  of  reforming  the  Church  in  its  head  and  members ; 
and  manifested  so  creditable  a  spirit  of  independence  that  the 
Vatican  had  become  alarmed,  and  sought  to  remove  it  to  Bologna, 
in  order  to  subject  it  to  those  influences  which  the  curia  knew  so 
well  how  to  wield.  The  council  had  refused  to  obey  the  papal 
command,  and  even  dared  to  summon  Eugenius  lY.  before  it. 
He  first  sent,  and  then  withdrew,  delegates,  and  afterwards  con- 
vened an  opposing  council  at  Ferrara,  soon  removing  it  to  Flor- 
ence ;  but  was  condenmed  and  excommunicated,  together  with  all 
the  members  of  his  synod,  and  finally  deposed,  by  the  assembly 
at  Basle. 

xS^ot  being  fettered  by  the  necessity  of  holding  prolonged  con- 
ferences before  the  proper  method  of  action  could  be  decided 
upon,  Eugenius  promptly  dispatched  nine  galleys  to  transport  the 
sacred  persons  of  the  emperor  and  his  attendant  prelates  safely 
across  the  seas.  The  vessels  of  the  synod  arrived  at  the  Golden 
Horn  somewhat  later  than  their  rivals,  but  nevertheless  waited 
hopefully  for  the  decision  of  the  wavering  emperor.  The  council 
had  been  scarcely  less  impolitic  in  its  language  than  tardy  in  its 
movements,  and  had  actually  called  the  Greek  faith  an  old  heresy, — 
not  a  very  complimentary  title,  surely  !  Palseologus  himself,  ac- 
companied by  Joseph  of  Constantinople,  Mark  of  Ephesus,  Dio- 
nysius  of  Sardis,  Bessarion  of  Nicsea,  the  metropolitans  of  Hera- 
clea,  Cyzicus,  Nicomedia,  and  Trebizond,  and  others,  embarked 
in  the  papal  fleet  and  set  sail  for  "Venice,  at  which  city  a  reception 
awaited  him  which  showed  what  a  republic  could  do  when  dis- 
posed to  honor  a  distinguished  visitor.  Glad  to  escape  from  a  city 
decorated  with  the  spoils  of  his  own  metropolis,  and  from  being 
constantly  reminded  of  the  days  which  saw  the  Lion  of  St.  Mark 
and  the  Eagles  of  Home  haughtily  triumphant  on  the  banks  of  the 
Bosporus,  he  presently  entered  Ferrara  in  state,  was  intercepted 
when  he  would  have  bent  the  knee  before  his  Highness  the  Pope, 
and,  after  having  been  welcomed  with  a  paternal  embrace,  was 
honorably  seated  at  the  left  hand  of  the  papal  chair.  The  patri- 
arch demanded  and  received  a  scarcely  less  honorable  reception, 


296  TEE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

nor  were  the  other  bishops  behind  their  chief  in  manifesting  inde- 
pendence :  thej  had  no  mind  to  degrade  themselves  by  performing 
the  customary  act  of  fealty  and  kissing  the  feet  of  his  Excellence. 
After  all  his  trouble,  Eugenius  perhaps  reflected,  not  without  sad- 
ness, that  he  had  not  accomplished  much  that  would  advance  his 
projects,  or  strengthen  him  against  the  Basle  assembly.  Palaeo- 
logus  even  disputed  the  presidency  of  the  synod,  but  was  reminded 
that,  when  Constantino  or  Theodosius  directed  the  deliberations  of 
the  assembled  bishops,  the  lordly  prelate  of  Kome  had  not  been 
personally  present. 

A  scarcity  of  'Western  bishops  delayed  the  proceedings,  and 
the  breaking  out  of  a  plague  was  made  the  occasion  of  moving  the 
assembly  to  Florence,  but  in  the  year  1439  all  things  seemed  to 
have  converged  towards  a  favorable  issue,  agreement  having  been 
reached  upon  all  the  disputed  topics.  To  be  sure,  the  Latin  side 
had  won  a  complete  triumph,  and  imposed  their  own  views  regard- 
ing the  Double  Procession  and  the  Filioque,  Purgatory,  and  the 
Papal  Supremacy  upon  the  Oriental  delegates,  and  had  persuaded 
them  to  acknowledge  the  lawfulness  of  using  unleavened  bread  in 
the  Eucharist ;  but  the  Greeks  had  lain  under  no  compulsion  in 
yielding  their  assent,  and  might  pardonably  indulge  tbe  hope  that 
a  treaty  which  had  received  the  sanction  of  so  many  learned  dig- 
nitaries would  not  be  rejected  by  those  whom  they  represented. 
On  a  memorable  day,  July  6th,  1439,  two  ecclesiastics  read  the 
act  of  Union  in  their  respective  languages  from  the  pulpit  of  the 
Florentine  cathedral,  and  then  embraced  each  other  in  the  sight 
of  the  two  peoples.  One  of  these  was  Cardinal  Julian,  the  other 
was  no  less  a  personage  than  the  celebrated  Bessarion,  who  forsook 
the  archbishopric  of  Nicaea  for  the  red  hat  of  a  cardinal,  and  trans- 
ferred all  his  learning  and  ability  to  the  permanent  service  of  the 
Western  Church.  After  this  transaction  the  Eoman  liturgy  was 
proceeded  with,  and  the  creed  chanted  with  its  unauthorized 
addition. 

The  emperor  and  the  prelates  returned  as  they  had  come, 
except  Joseph,  who  had  breathed  his  last,  and  Bessarion.  Did 
they  feel  any  sinking  of  the  heart,  premonitory  of  the  fate  that 
awaited  them  ?  Where  were  the  succors  which  they  had  expected 
to  bring  back  with  them  ?  Where,  the  tokens  of  the  victories  they 
had  been  so  sure  of  winning  over  the  dull  minds  of  the  West? 
Instead  of  these  they  bore  with  them  a  treaty  of  peace  which  was 


TEE  SCHISM  OF  THE  EAST  AND    WEST.  297 

simply  disgraceful.  The  indignation  of  the  populace,  we  may 
well  believe,  expressed  itself  in  mutterings  and  derisive  shouts, 
and  in  persistent  non-attendance  upon  the  ministrations  of  the 
faithless  deputies.  The  successor  of  Joseph  officiated  in  an  empty 
church.  The  primate  of  Russia,  who  had  also  attended  at  Flor- 
ence, was  deposed,  and  consigned  to  a  monastery  :  he  escaped  with 
difficulty  from  the  rage  of  a  justly-incensed  people.  Mark  of 
Ephesus  alone  had  stood  out  against  all  arguments  and  persuasions, 
and  refused  to  sign  the  concordat :  consequently  the  admiring 
regard  and  love  of  the  people  surrounded  him  with  the  glory  of 
a  hero. 

In  1453  Mahomet  II.  profaned  St.  Sophia  with  the  shadow  of 
the  crescent  and  the  accursed  sound  of  an  impious  prayer,  and  the 
Greek  Empire  had  ceased  to  exist, — though  not  the  Greek  Church. 


CHAPTER  XYI. 

THE    EUCHARISTIC    CONTROVERSY. 

Greek  civilization  and  the  Greek  race  have  been  tried  and 
found  wanting,  as  the  Jewish  had  been  before  them.  The  Gospel 
was,  first  of  all,  ofi'ered  to  a  nation  most  admirably  fitted,  in  every 
way  except  one,  to  receive  it.  Fifteen  centuries  of  education  had 
so  thoroughly  indoctrinated  the  national  mind  with  certain  neces- 
sary ideas,  and  so  thoroughly  perfected  the  organization  of  the 
Church  which  God  had  given  a  claim  upon  the  allegiance  of  the 
people,  that  the  one  ought  to  have  received  the  new  revelation 
with  cacemcss  and  satisfaction,  and  to  have  understood  it  with 
ease  and  accuracy;  while  the  other  should  have  spontaneously 
converted  itself  into  a  most  powerful  instrument  for  preserving, 
defending,  and  promulgating  it.  Had  the  Jewish  Church  only, 
as  a  church,  accepted  the  Gospel,  how  differently  would  have  read 
the  chronicles  of  liistory !  l^o  insignificant  race,  is  that  Jewish. 
Had  it  consecrated  to  the  new  Faith  its  noble  qualities  of  intellect, 
its  enterprising  spirit,  its  indomitable  courage,  and  its  high  capa- 
bility of  endurance,  there  would  have  been  no  necessity  for 
making  choice  of  another  race  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  struggle. 
But  the  Jew  threw  away  the  golden  opportunity ;  which  was  then 
presented  to  a  people,  endowed  with  even  superior  powers  of  intel- 
lect, and  baskino-  in  the  noontide  of  the  most  advanced  civilization 
that  the  world  had  yet  witnessed.  Fi  >r  a  while,  the  Greeks  stood  forth 
as  champions  of  the  truth,  and  performed  wonders  in  shielding  it 
from  the  furious  assaults  of  heresy  ;  but  gradually  all  mental  energy 
seems  to  slip  from  them,  they  become  mere  conservators  of  tra- 
dition, and  even,  as  their  civilization  retrogrades  into  effeteness, 
allow  the  traditional  faith  itself  to  be  tampered  with.  The  Ro- 
mans, who  have  partly  borne  the  same  burden  and  shared  the 
same  exalted  calling,  after  having  demonstrated  on  many  a  field 
their  fidelity  to  those  statements  which  they  had  recognized  as  true 


THE  EUGHARISTIC  CONTROVEBST.  299 

when  drawn  up  and  defended  by  the  astuter  Greeks,  have  fol- 
lowed them  in  their  downfall.  Christianity  participates  in  the 
westward  march  of  empire.  Where  Coesar's  legions  had  bridged 
swollen  streams,  forced  their  way  through  trackless  forests,  or 
watched  incessantly  for  the  ambuscades  of  Yercingetorix,  a  new 
civilization  was  slowly  growing  up.  The  barbarians  had  easily 
overwhehned  the  scattered  provinces  of  the  West,  but  had,  in  their 
turn,  been  subdued  by  those  whom  they  had  vanquished  in  arms. 
The  language,  laws,  and  learning  of  the  Latins  proved  themselves 
too  strong  to  be  eradicated  or  supplanted,  and,  absorbing  into 
themselves  everything  that  was  worth  appropriating  among  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  conquerors,  gradually  brought  the 
vigorous  Goths,  Franks,  or  Lombards  under  their  dominion,  and 
thus  gave  birth  to  a  new,  fresh,  and  solid  civilization,  which  had 
this  great  advantage  over  the  old,  that  it  had  incorporated  into 
itself  many  valuable  Christian  principles,  and  was  therefore  built 
upon  a  more  enduring  foundation.  The  Frankish  intellect  soon 
manifests  great  activity,  considerable  versatility,  respectable  breadth 
and  strength,  some  profundity,  and  unusual  judiciousness.  While 
a  fatal  lethargy  settles  down  upon  the  Greeks,  after  John  Damas- 
cenus  and  Photius  have  gilded  the  sunset  sky  of  that  communion  ; 
while  North  Africa  is  suffering  from  Saracenic  invasion,  and 
almost  equally  from  the  encroachments  of  the  sands ;  while  Rome 
is  killing  out  all  independence  of  thought  with  the  blight  of  spirit- 
ual despotism,  a  powerful  empire  is  consolidating  beyond  the 
Alps  which  inherits  at  once  the  hardy,  fearless,  unfettered  mind 
of  the  barbarian,  and  the  culture,  experience,  skill,  and  knowl- 
edge of  the  Latin.  Thither  let  us  turn  for  scholars  and  divines, 
for  philosophical  discussions  of  controverted  points,  for  able  expo- 
sitions of  the  faith  which  was  committed  to  the  custody  of  the 
saints.  Having  already  seen  the  Franks  playing  a  conspicuous 
part  in  two  such  controversies  as  those  concerning  Predestination 
and  Image-worship,  we  should  be  less  surprised  at  discovering 
them  in  the  characters  of  originators  of  a  discussion  that  has 
well-nigh  outlived  those  two,  important  as  they  were,  and  tenacious 
of  existence  as  they  were  also,  and  attended  their  funerals  in 
seemly  robes  of  mourning. 

The  progress  of  the  Iconoclastic  controversy  revealed  the 
gradual  development  of  a  tendency  to  obliterate  the  distinctions 
between  the  ideal  and  the  sensuous,  and  to  confound  the  repre- 


300  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

sentation  or  symbol  •vvitli  the  thing  represented  or  symbolized. 
The  retrogression  of  mind  during  those  centuries  in  which  the 
old-world  civilization,  its  agonies  having  been  hastened  by  the 
ruthless  violence  of  the  barbaric  invaders,  was  undergoing  the 
throes  of  parturition  preparatory  to  the  birth  of  one  which  should 
be  higher  and  better,  gave  free  scope  to  certain  proclivities  which 
are  latent  in  the  most  enlightened  bosom.  Eidiculous  as  it  ap- 
pears to  an  educated  understanding  that  any  person  should  mis- 
take a  plaster  image  for  the  Being  who  made  the  universe,  the  fact, 
nevertheless,  is  that  countless  myriads  of  souls  liave  been,  and  are, 
not  far  removed  from  that  absurd  and  brutal  error,  and  that 
numerous  individuals  of  high  culture  and  no  small  mental  power 
allow  imagination  or  fancy  to  get  the  upper  hand  of  judgment 
and  convert  shadow  into  substance.  The  dispute  about  images 
could  not,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  have  continued  very  long 
without  leading  to  a  discussion  concerning  the  consecrated  ele- 
ments and  their  relation  to  the  person  and  natures  of  our  Lord. 
As  He  Himself  is,  according  to  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  "the  brightness  of"  the  Father's  "glory,  and  the  ex- 
press image  of  His  person,"  so  the  bread  and  wine  are,  after  con- 
secration, closely  related  to  the  God-man  whose  flesh  and  blood 
they  have  become.  If  they  have  been  elevated  into  actual  par- 
ticipation of  His  humanity,  then,  being  part  and  parcel  of  Him, 
they  may  seem  to  deserve  the  same  adoration  which  is  due  to 
Him ;  while  if  they  are  mere  symbols  of  an  absent  Christ,  they 
still  may  arrogate  to  themselves  a  certain  degree  of  veneration, 
equal  to  that  which  is  so  freely  granted  by  some  to  pictures  of  the 
Saviour. 

In  831  there  emanated  from  the  active  brain  of  a  Frankish 
monk,  who  was  to  preside  over  the  celebrated  monastery  of  Cor- 
bey,  a  treatise  which  has  made  the  name  of  its  author,  Paschasius 
Radbert,  famous  as  that  of  the  originator  of  the  First  Eucharistic 
Controversy.  ^Varin,  abbot  of  New  Corbey,  possibly  little  sus- 
pected what  a  fire  he  was  kindling  when  he  requested  his  former 
master  to  compose  a  book  upon  the  Eucharist  for  the  benefit  of 
the  daughter  monastery.  Paschasius  took  very  extreme  positions, 
teaching  that  the  unlimited  power  of  God,  while  suffering  the 
appearance  of  the  material  substances  to  remain  unchanged,  ac- 
tually converts  the  elements  into  the  same  body  which  was  born 
of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  crucified  under  Pontius  Pilate,  the  mis- 


,w 


THE  EUCHARISTIG  CONTROVERSY.  30I 

leading  seinblimce  being  left  in  order  to  try  the  faith  of  the  wor- 
shipers,  and  remind   them    that  sight,  feeling,  and  taste  are  not 
the  means  by  which  we  feed  upon  the  Word  of  God.     The  way 
for  the  acceptance  of  this  doctrine  had  been  paved  by  such  mir- 
acles as  those,  of  changing  water  into  wine  and  multiplying  so 
amazingly  the  loaves  and  fishes,  which  displayed  so  clearly  the 
control  of  God  over  the  forces  and  laws  of  the  visible  world.     It 
was  said  to  be  no  more  difficult  to  credit  the  miraculous  increase 
of  Christ's  body  through  the  incoi-poration  into  it  of  the  sacred 
elements  than  to  believe  in  the  unexampled  birth  from  a  virgin. 
Such  was  the  general  drift  of  the  revised  copy  which  Paschasius 
sent  to  Charles  the  Bald,  at  his  imperial  request,  a  few  years  later. 
The  learned  abbot  probably  did  not  suppose  that  he  was  fabri- 
cating an   entirely  new  theory,  and  one  which  was  destined  to 
have  very  pernicious  results;    but  had  committed  the  very  com- 
mon mistake  of  translating  rhetoric  into  logic.    It  will  not  always 
answer  to  affix  a  strict  literal  interpretation  to  the  glowing  im- 
agery of  Oriental  oratory.     The  fervid  language  of  a  Chrysostom 
was  not  likely  to  deceive  an  audience  that  was  in  perfect  sym- 
pathy with  him,  but  could  hardly  bear  the  test  of  cold  reasoning ; 
not  that  it  was  really  illogical  or  false,  hut  that  it  could  be  made 
to  seem  so  when  viewed  through  a  denser  medium.     It  is  not  at 
all  surprising  that  this  treatise  occasioned  considerable  commo- 
tion, and  drew  forth  replies  from  various  leading  divines,  fore- 
most among  whom  was  Kabanus  Maurus,  archbishop  of  Mentz 
and  the  ablest  teacher,  and  disputant,  and  writer  of  his  day  and 
nation.     A  pupil  of  his,  named  Walafrid  Strabo,  also  engaged  in 
the  warfare,  as  did  Christian  Druthmar  and  others.     Two  distin- 
guished authors  were  directed  by  Charles  to  give  him  in  writing 
their  opinions  on  the  subject.     In  compliance  with  this  request, 
the  freethinking  Scotus  (John  Scotus  Erigena)  gave  forth  a  work 
which  has  perished,  but  is  supposed  to  have  rationalized  away  all 
meaning  out  of  the  sacrament  and  reduced  it  to  a  bare  commemo- 
ration.    The  other  scholar  was  one  who  had  previously  been  con- 
sulted by  the  same  sovereign  on  the  subject  of  predestination,  and 
enjoyed  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  best  theologians  of  his 
time.     Ratram,  although  embarrassed  by  his  position  as  a  monk 
of  Corbey,  nevertheless  expressed  convictions  wholly  at  variance 
with  those  of  his  abbot,  and  supported  them  with  much  clearness 
and  cogency  in  a  celebrated  treatise,  "  Concerning  the  Body  and 


302  THE  CHXIRCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

Blood  of  the  Lord,"  which  afterwards  enjoyed  the  high  honor  of 
converting  Bishop  Eidlej  and  the  English  Church  from  Tran- 
siibstantiation.  He  undertakes  to  answer  two  questions :  First, 
whether  there  is  any  real  change  of  the  elements  at  all,  or  not ; 
and  secondly,  whether,  supposing  that  there  is  an  alteration,  the 
transformation  is  one  into  the  same  body  which  Christ  had  on 
earth.  He  reasons  very  forcibly  that  any  actual  change  must 
manifest  itself  to  the  senses,  and  that,  inasmuch  as  the  senses  are 
not  cognizant  of  any  change  whatever,  the  only  supposable  trans- 
mutation is  an  invisible,  spiritual  one,  which  takes  place  for  the 
benefit  of  man's  soul.  Then,  as  regards  the  second  division  of 
his  subject,  he  distinguishes  between  two  methods  of  viewing  it, 
and  says  that  in  a  true  and  projyer  sense  the  elements  do  not  be- 
come the  actual  risen  body  of  Christ,  but  that  they  do  become  so 
in  an  imjproper  and  spiritual  sense,  inasmuch  as  they  are  the 
"  image  and  pledge  "  of  it. 

Although  holding  the  unpopular  view,  Paschasius  was  by  no 
means  without  supporters,  but  numbered  among  them  such  promi- 
nent men  as  Hay  mo  of  Halljerstadt,  who  had  been  a  fellow-student 
of  archbishop  Maurus  and  was  not  altogether  unworthy  of  having 
a  name  associated  with  his  in  the  republic  of  letters,  and  Hincmar, 
the  sturdy  resister  of  papal  aggression.  The  various  contestants 
relied  much  upon  the  authority  of  those  illustrious  Fathers,  Am- 
brose of  Milan  and  Augustine  of  Hippo,  the  latter  of  whom  was 
beginning  to  exert  an  almost  despotic  sway  over  the  Latin  church. 
Radbert's  book  is  for  the  observant  reader  of  Jiistory  a  sort  of 
channel-buoy,  which  serves  the  double  purpose  of  indicating  which 
way  the  tide  is  setting  and  how  high  it  has  risen.  The  flood  tide 
of  realism  or  materialism  had  evidently  begun,  but  had  not  yet 
acquired  sufficient  power  to  turn  the  current,  except  close  along 
the  sheltered  banks,  although  it  had  perceptibly  checked  its  flow. 
Let  us  take  advantage  of  the  slack  water  and  easy  navigation  to 
cast  the  lead  and  study  our  charts,  preparatory  to  rushing  along 
with  the  full  sweep  of  the  rising  river. 

In  attempting,  then,  to  understand  the  language  of  Holy 
Scripture  in  reference  to  the  Eucharist,  a  proper  starting-point 
seems  to  be  an  examination  of  the  testimony  of  our  senses,  in 
regard  to  their  reliability.  Beyond  dispute,  our  eyes  testify  that 
the  bread  and  win6  wear  the  same  outward  appearance  after  the 
consecration,  and  our  hands  and  palates  proclaim  that  no  differ- 


THE  EUCHABI8TIG  CONTROVERSY.  303 

ence  can  be  perceived  "between  consecrated  and  nnconsecrated 
bread  and  wine.  Nor  is  this  merely  negative  evidence;  for,  if  the 
bread  and  wine  are  converted  into  anything,  they  are  converted 
into  flesli  and  blood;  but  our  senses  of  sight,  feeling,  and  taste,  in 
conjunction,  are  surely  competent  to  pronounce  whether  certain 
food  is  flesh  and  blood,  or  bread  and  wme ;  and  they  do  unequiv- 
ocally declare  that  what  the  priest  puts  into  our  mouths  is  not 
flesh  and  blood,  but  positively  and  without  a  shadow  of  a  doubt 
bread  and  wine.  Now,  we  must  either  accept  or  reject  the  testi- 
mony of  our  senses,  it  not  being  at  all  reasonable  to  build  upon  it 
or  pass  it  by  just  as  we  happen  to  be  inclined  at  the  moment. 
Shall  we  reject  the  testimony  of  our  senses  ?  How,  then,  can  we 
ever  be  convinced  that  our  Saviour  opened  the  eyes  of  the  bhnd, 
enabled  the  lame  to  walk,  or  f3d  the  multitude?  Indeed,  how 
shall  we  ever  ans^ver  the  Docetae,  when  they  tell  us  that  His 
body  was  nothing  more  than  a  phantom?  Of  what  significance 
is  the  handling  of  His  wounds  by  the  doubting  Thomas  to  a  man 
who  yields  no  credence  to  his  own  senses  ?  Had  such  a  man  stood 
full  before  the  glorious  Sufferer  and  beheld  His  face  stained  with 
blood  and  His  back  furrowed  by  the  scourge,  had  he  lifted  Him 
with  his  own  hands  from  the  accursed  tree,  had  he  gazed  upon 
Him  after  His  resurrection  while  eating  the  common  viands  sup- 
plied by  the  disciples,  that  man  would  have  had  no  ground  what- 
ever for  believing  that  the  Saviour  actually  was  crucified,  or  that 
He  actually  rose  again,  Nor  can  we  stop  even  at  this  low  grade 
of  skepticism,  for  an  iron  necessity  is  upon  us  and  drags  us  down 
to  the  lowest  abyss  of  unbelief;  since,  if  a  man  cannot  trust  to 
his  senses,  he  knows  nothing  whatever  about  the  external  world 
or  himself.  Unless  we  wish  to  embrace  such  foul  consequences, 
we  must  accept  the  witness  of  those  senses  which  the  God  who 
created  us  surely  did  not  give  in  order  to  deceive  us.  The  Bible 
discloses  to  us  many  mysteries  which  are  hidden  from  our  bodily 
organs,  teaches  us  to  see  hosts  of  angels  encamped  around  us,  to 
fear  before  the  all -seeing  eye  of  an  Omnipotent  God,  and  even  to 
believe  that  angels  and  the  Son  of  God  Himself  have  taken  human 
forms  for  temporary  purposes ;  it  informs  us  that  Christ  exercised 
incomprehensible  power  over  the  agencies  of  the  natural  w^orld ; 
but  never  does  it  call  upon  us  to  confess  that  what  we  see  does 
not  really  exist,  or  what  we  have  heard  was  not  really  spoken. 
On  the  contrary,  it  recognizes  tacitly  the  incapacity  under  which 


304:  TEE  CnURCH  AXL   THE  FAITH. 

it  labors  of  addressing  us  at  all,  or  of  persuading  us,  except 
through  an  appeal  to  one  or  more  of  our  senses.  It  is  un- 
doubtedly true  that  eyes  and  ears  become  organically  diseased 
or  are  temporarily  disordered  by  mental  excitement,  so  that  there 
is  need  to  correct  their  verdicts  by  the  judgment;  but  we  would 
desire  to  be  told  how  it  is  possible  that  there  should  be  any  irregu- 
lar action  in  the  case  now  before  us.  Can  it  be  that  the  collective 
verdict  of  all  who  have  ever  communed  is  wrong,  and  that  the 
bread,  after  all,  is  flesh,  and  the  wine,  blood  ? 

Again,  wc  are  distinctly  taught  that  Christ  resumed  His  body 
on  the  third  day  after  that  body  had  been  nailed  to  the  cross,  that 
He  retained  it  till  the  fortieth  day  after  His  resurrection,  that  He 
ascended  with  it  into  the  Heaven  of  heavens,  disapj)earing  with  it 
from  the  tearful  eyes  of  His  disciples,  and  that  He  sat  down  with 
it  at  the  right  hand  of  His  Father,  awaiting  the  appointed  hour 
for  Him  to  return  in  it  to  this  earth  and  judge  the  living  and  the 
dead.  In  that  same  body,  still  bearing  the  wounds  of  the  thorns, 
and  the  marks  of  the  nails,  and  the  ridges  of  the  lash, — the  glori- 
ous scars  of  these  as  monuments  of  His  unrivaled  victories, — lie 
now  stands  interceding  for  us,  miserable  sinners,  who  would  not 
dare,  without  such  an  advocate,  to  approach  the  mercy-seat.  That 
body  was  not  an  imaginary,  phantasmagorical  body,  but  one  of 
real  flesh  and  blood  derived  from  the  Yirgin-niother;  and  even 
after  the  resurrection  it  was  not  freed  from  conditions  of  space,  for 
the  blessed  lips  assured  Mary  Magdalene  that  He  had  not  yet 
ascended  into  Heaven.  In  short,  the  risen  and  glorified  body  of 
Christ  is  in  heaven,  and  not  on  earth.  That  it  is  joined  in  indis- 
soluble personal  union  with  Divinity  is  no  more  a  reason  why  it 
should  partake  of  the  attributes  of  deity  than  the  existence  of  the 
same  conjunction  was  a  reason  why  Christ's  body  should  have  been 
everywhere  present  while  it  was  on  earth. 

Furthermore,  the  body  of  which  we  partake  in  the  Holy  Eu- 
charist, if  we  partake  of  any,  is  not  the  glorified  body  at  all. 
When  Christ  spoke  the  celebrated  words  of  institution,  He  was 
not  vet  bevond  His  hour  of  srreatest  humiliation  :  He  Himself,  not 
yet  crucified,  is  there,  in  plain  sight  of  all,  in  His  own  proper  form, 
lifts  with  His  human  hand  common  bread,  the  same  which  the 
disciples  had  been  eating,  and  solemnly  declares,  "  This  is  my 
body  which  is  given  for  you;"  takes  a  cup,  filled  with  com- 
mon  wine,    and   says,  "  This  is  my  blood   which  is   shed  for 


THE  EUCHABISTIG  CONTROVERSY.  305 

you."  Plainly  tliat  bread  and  wine  are  not  the  body  of  the  Lord 
in  actuality,  eitlier  of  humiliation  or  of  glory,  for  there  is  the 
frame  of  the  well-known  Master  whole  before  their  eyes ;  and,  if 
these  difficulties  could  be  removed,  the  insurmountable  one  would 
still  confront  us,  that  much  stress  is  put  upon  the  hnalu'ng  and  the 
shedding,  far  too  much  to  allow  of  our  interpreting  the  words  of 
Christ's  glorified  body.  But  no  body  of  Christ  actually  exists 
anywhere  except  the  risen  body  which  is  glorified  in  the  heavens 
above  :  therefore  no  actual  presence  of  a  crucified  body  is  possible 
in  the  Communion. 

We  cannot  permit  the  conclusion  thus  reached  to  be  shaken 
by  any  arguments  that  may  be  brought  against  it  from  the  armory 
of  faith,  for  we  cannot  stand  passive,  and  let  the  ground  be  cut 
from  beneath  our  feet,  and  ourselves  be  buried  under  a  promiscu- 
ous ruin  of  science,  philosophy,  and  religion.  What  we  shall  do 
with  the  conclusion,  what  is  its  exact  meaning,  how  far  we  shall 
press  it, — these  are  questions  which  we  must  prepare  ourselves  to 
examine  with  great  caution ;  but  the  conclusion  itself,  as  a  con- 
clusion, must  be  held  at  the  risk  of  our  lives.  It  may  present  a  for- 
bidding aspect ;  it  may  detach  us  from  our  friends ;  it  may  even  seem 
to  carry  us  over  to  the  infidel  camp.  No  matter !  The  conclu- 
sion has  been  duly  and  logically  reached,  is  so  far  from  being 
unreasonable  that  the  contrary  opinion  is  not  even  supposable, 
and  has  the  sanction  of  primitive  antiquity  and  of  a  long  and  full 
catena  of  the  ablest  and  most  orthodox  authorities.  Let  us  dismiss 
all  wavering  and  plant  ourselves  firmly  upon  our  chosen  ground ; 
and  yet  let  us  be  sure  that  this  one-sided  view  has  not  revealed  to 
us  the  w^hole  of  the  truth. 

Having  now  proved  that  Christ  is  not  present  in  the  Holy 
Eucharist,  we  will  proceed  to  show  that  He  is  present  therein. 
If,  as  we  most  firmly  believe,  He  is  God  consubstantial  with  the 
Father,  He  must  be  everywhere,  and  consequently  cannot  be 
absent  from  the  church,  altar,  paten:  moreover,  since,  notwith- 
standing the  omnipresence  of  the  divine  essence,  it  may  be  espe- 
cially localized,  as  it  were,  by  a  sort  of  concentrated  presence  in  a 
given  spot,  He  may  very  properly  be  revered  as  resting  in  unusual 
plenitude  of  divine  majesty,  not  only  within  the  consecrated  walls 
which  surround  the  devout  congregation,  but  still  more  where  the 
consecrated  symbols  repose  upon  the  holy  table.  Wherever  the 
Godhead  of  Christ  is,  there  Christ  is,  and  Christ  is  always  and  for- 


306  TEE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

ever  man  as  well  as  God.  It  is  not  intended  to  be  asserted  that 
Christ  is  everywhere  for  the  purpose  of  being  worshiped, — that  it 
would  be  right  to  prostrate  ourselves  before  a  stone  edifice  and 
say  our  prayers  to  it,  because  the  Lord  vouchsafes  to  be  in  the 
midst  of  two  or  three  gathered  together  in  His  name, — but  that, 
as  Jehovah  was  pleased  to  fill  Solomon's  temple  with  His  visible 
glory,  and  to  dwell  permanently  between  the  cherubim  within  the 
Holy  of  Holies,  so  He  dignifies  the  Christian  Church  with  a  real, 
if  invisible,  excellence  of  divine  radiance  hovering  above  and 
around  the  altar  of  sacrificial  commemoration. 

He  is  there  also  representatively  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  who 
is  His  vicar,  by  whose  agency  it  comes  to  pass  both  that  the  ele- 
ments are  purified  and  made  ready  for  the  ministerial  act  of  God's 
anointed  priest,  whereby,  through  the  same  instrumentality,  they 
are  converted  into  symbols  of  divine  love,  and  also  that  the  souls 
and  bodies  of  the  faithful  are  sanctified  and  prepared  for  the  re- 
ception of  those  pledges. 

Besides  these  kinds  of  presence,  there  is  requisite,  in  order  to 
justify  the  language  of  the  Bible,  a  presence  and  communication 
of  His  body,  that  very  body  which  was  crucified  for  us.  Nothing 
less  than  that  can  satisfy  the  requirements  of  the  words  of  Insti- 
tution, which  not  only  declare  that  the  elements  «re  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ,  but  call  upon  the  disciples  to  partake  of  them  on 
that  very  ground.  More  emphatic  still  were  the  teachings  of  our 
Saviour  in  the  synagogue  of  Capernaum,  on  that  memorable  oc- 
casion when  many  of  His  own  disciples  were  oflended  at  Him  and 
left  Him,  because  they  did  not  see  how  He  could  give  them  His 
flesh  to  eat.  Why  did  He  not  remove  the  stumbling-block  out  of 
their  j)atli  by  the  shnple  and  obvious  explanation,  that  He  did  not 
mean  anything  more  than  that  they  should  feed  upon  His  doctrine  ? 
Why  did  He  not  guard  them  against  the  misapprehension  that 
they  were  in  some  way  to  press  His  flesh  with  their  teeth  ?  There 
can  be  but  one  answer :  Because  He  had  intended  to  clothe  in 
those  words  some  truth  of  deep  mysteriousness  which  could  not 
be  conveyed  in  more  appropriate  phraseology,  some  fact  of  the 
in%asible  world  which  must  be  taught  at  any  risk.  If,  on  the  one 
hand,  it  may  lead  to  absurdity  and  superstition  to  insist  upon  the 
strict  literal  rendering  of  every  passage  in  the  revealed  Word,  so, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  barren  wastes  of  materialism  must  be 
reached,  sooner  or  later,  by  the  interpreter  who  resolves  all  difficult 


jt 


THE  EUCEABISTIG  CONTROVERSY.  307 

declarations   and    allusions   into   mere   metaphor,    allegory,   and 
type. 

And  thus  once  more  we  stand  perplexed  between  two  con- 
tradictions. Shall  we  come  down  from  the  position  we  so  confi- 
dently assumed  a  little  while  since,  and  admit  that  we  must  have 
been  mistaken  about  the  impossibility  of  an  actual  alteration  of 
the  elements  into  that  of  which  they  are  the  symbols?  Shall  we 
confess  that  the  crucified  body  of  Christ  is  actually  and  really 
present  in  the  Eucharist  ?  We  will  not  leave  our  vantage  ground 
till  we  are  unable  to  hold  it  any  longer,  and  that  time  has  not 
arrived  yet :  at  present  we  do  not  perceive  what  we  could  expect 
to  gain  by  so  doing,  for,  should  we  confess  that  the  flesh  and  blood 
are  really  there  in  material  substance,  we  would  not  be  one  step 
nearer  to  the  understanding  of  how  carnal  flesh  and  blood  can  be 
eaten  by  the  spirit  of  man.  The  idea  that  Christ's  body  is  to  be 
crushed  by  our  teeth  and  subjected  to  the  digestive  action  of  our 
systems,  is  so  revolting  as  to  send  a  shudder  through  us  at  the  bare 
mention  of  it.  The  only  imaginable  or  credible  feeding  is  one  in 
which  the  spirit  alone  has  part :  the  body  may  and  does  eat  the 
symbols,  but  what  alone  can  feed  upon  the  realities  is  the  imma- 
terial portion  of  man's  complex  nature,  which  cannot  masticate 
and  absorb  material  substances  by  any  conceivable  or  inconceiv- 
able process.  The  spirit  cannot  eat  corporeal  things ;  it  is  only 
able  to  appropriate  incorporeal  nourishment.  We  might  just  as 
well  invite  a  famished  traveler  to  regale  himself  upon  the  abstruse 
and  difiicult  pages  of  Newton's  Principia  or  Laplace's  Mechanique 
Celeste  and  the  lighter  verses  of  Milton  or  Southey,  as  think  to 
satisfy  the  cravings  of  a  sinful  and  struggling  spirit  by  setting 
before  it  a  repast  of  carnal  flesh  and  blood.  "  They  drank  of  that 
spiritual  Rock  that  followed  them  ;  and  that  Rock  was  Christ ; " 
"  He  that  believeth  on  me,  as  the  Scripture  hath  said,  out  of  his 
belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water;" — how  will  the  literalists 
deal  with  such  passages  as  these  ?  Man's  immortal  nature  can 
feed  upon  the  benefits  that  accrue  to  it  by  reason  of  the  breaking 
of  Christ's  blessed  bodv  and  the  sheddinir  of  His  blessed  blood,  and 
these  benefits  can  be  specially  conveyed  to  it  by  the  Great  High- 
priest  through  the  intervention  of  a  ceremony  well  calculated  to 
lift  the  heart  in  faith,  love,  and  adoration  towards  His  eternal 
Throne.  In  such  a  banquet  the  crucified  body  is  both  absent  and 
present, — absent  to  the  senses,  to  the  understanding,  and  absent 


308  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

in  every  corporeal,  carnal,  and  material  sense ;  but  present  to  faith, 
present  as  to  the  receiving  of  all  possible  advantages  that  can 
proceed  from  a  partaking  of  it,  and  therefore  present  in  the  lofty 
ideal  reality  of  a  transcendental  conception.     Is  such  a  reality  no 
reality  at  all  ?'    Not  unless  there  is  no  reality  in  that  which  en- 
ables the  sorely-tried  soul  of  the  sinner,  rising  victorious  above 
the  power  of  temptation  and  the  fascination  of  this  world,  to  lay 
firm  hold  upon  eternal  life.     We  cannot  take  Everlasting  Life  up 
in  our  hands,  turn  it  over,  and  strike  it  with  the  geologist's  ham- 
mer ;   nor  has  it  any  material  existence  of  any  kind  whatever : 
is  it  therefore  a  nonentity  ?     No  more  can  we  handle  or  examine 
the  sacramental  body  of  Christ,  or  convince  ourselves  that  it  has 
any  material  being  or  any  corporeal  presence ;  but  must  we  then 
sadly  admit  to  ourselves  that  in  holding,  as  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church  has  instructed  us  to  do,  firmly  to  the  reality  of  our  feeding 
upon  it,  by  faith,  in  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  we  have 
been  amusing  ourselves  with  a  golden  illusion?     Never,  till  we 
arc  confuted  in  the  course  of  reasoning  which  persuades  us  that 
the  invisible  and  immaterial  is  far  more  enduring,  substantial,  and 
real  than  all  that  we  ever  saw,  or  felt,  or  tasted,  of  the  fleeting 
entities  of  the  visible  world. 

This  theory  cannot,  without  gross  injustice,  be  accused  of 
robbing  the  sacrament  of  its  value.  Is  the  act  of  stretching  out 
the  hands  to  receive  the  bread  of  life,  of  conveying  it  to  the  lips, 
of  chewing  and  swallowing  it,  a  real  act?  Far  more  real  is  the 
transaction  that  invisibly  accompanies  it,  for,  at  that  instant  and 
by  those  means,  the  inmost  soul  of  a  faithful  recipient  is  strength- 
ened and  refreshed  by  the  grace  of  God,  being  endowed  with 
blessings  which  it  would  not  otherwise  obtain.  Both  the  sacra- 
ments which  were  ordained  by  Christ  to  be  generally  observed, 
are  "outward,  visible"  signs  of  transactions  which  actually  occur 
in  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  second  birth  is  as  real  as  the 
first.  At  the  very  hour  when  the  person  is  baptized  in  the  Triune 
Name,  a  certain  accession  of  spiritual  force  comes  to  him,  by 
which  he  caii  overpower  sin,  Satan,  and  death,  and  a  change  is 
wrought  whereby  he  is  enabled  to  purify  his  inner  nature.  Should 
he  improve  his  advantages  and  make  some  progress  in  cleansing 
himself  from  sin,  he  will  (so  to  speak)  presently  exhaust  his  sup- 
ply of  grace  and  be  in  need  of  its  renewal.  What  shall  he  do  ? 
What  course  does  the  child  pursue  who  has  toiled  in  his  meny 


THE  EUCHABISTIC  CONTBOVEBST  309 

pastimes  till  bis  body  has  drawn  to  tbe  full  upon  its  stock  of  food 
and  craves  more  ?  His  instinct  directs  bim  to  seek  nourishment. 
What  tbe  meal  furnished  bj  parental  love  is  to  tbe  infant,  that  is 
the  Holy  Eucharist  to  the  faithful  soul,  the  means  by  which  it 
obtains  a  fresh  supply  of  strength.  The  act  of  taking  food  is  as 
real  and  as  necessary  in  one  case  as  in  tbe  other,  for  if  the  Chris- 
tian neglects  to  approach  tbe  holy  table,  he  dies  as  surely  as  the 
hungry  child  who  can  get  nothing  to  eat.  In  either  instance  it  is 
true  that  man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  that  God  can 
sustain  him  without  it  when  He  sees  adequate  cause,  and  yet  that 
under  ordinary  circumstances  a  natural  law  brings  a  slow  but  in- 
evitable death.  It  is  an  awful  thing  to  enter  the  presence-cham- 
ber of  Omnipotence  and  fall  low  on  our  knees  with  bands  opened 
for  the  reception  of  blessings  which  Infinite  Mercy  alone  can  be- 
stow. If  gratitude  can  touch  the  heart  of  a  forgiven  sinner,  it 
must  be  at  the  moment  when  the  full  benefit  of  the  Redeemer's 
passion  is  communicated  to  it.  If  awe  can  envelop  the  adoring 
mind,  when  will  it  do  so  with  more  certainty  than  during  an  hour 
passed  in  commemorating  and  recalling  the  amazing  events  of 
Christ's  crucifixion,  and  in  contemplating  Him  ascended  into 
heaven  and  giving  us  tbe  good  gifts  which  He  gained  for  us  by 
His  obedience  unto  death?  Realizing  by  faith  the  nearness  of  our 
Saviour,  profoundly  impressed  with  that  sense  of  His  divinity 
which  springs  from  the  thought  of  His  boundless  love,  assisted  by 
the  stillness  and  devotion  of  the  assembled  communicants,  by  the 
cooperation  of  angels  and  archangels,  by  the  significant  acts  of 
the  officiating  priest,  and  by  the  elevating  tone  of  a  noble  liturgj^, 
tbe  humble  believer  adores  his  God  in  tbe  Eucharist  as  he  would 
in  vain  attempt  to  do  without  the  aid  of  that  sacrament. 

As  time  advanced  the  theory  of  Pascbasius  Radbert  slowly 
and  silently  gained  ground.  A  century  and  a  half  of  comparative 
quietude  sufiered  this  discussion  to  be  forgotten,  until  the  monas- 
tery of  Bee  and  the  learned  world  in  general  throughout  the 
West  began  to  practice  debate  with  weapons,  which  were  new  to 
them  although  they  had  to  be  cleansed  from  the  rust  of  a  vener- 
able age.  Arabian  scholars  like  Avicenna,  having  become  enthu- 
siastic readers  of  ancient  Greek  philosophy,  were  instrumental  in 
introducing  it  through  Spain  into  Europe,  where  it  speedily  took 
root  and  flourished  greatly.  An  occasional  work  or  idea  derived 
from  tbe  same  primary  source,  was  also  borrowed  by  the  Latins 


310  TEE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

from  Constantinople  and  the  mediaeval  Greeks.  A  new  phi- 
losophy took  possession  of  the  "Western  mind,  and  sought  to  ex- 
plain, prove,  and  systematize  all  Catholic  theology.  It  revered 
Aristotle  as  its  august  founder,  but  had  a  lower  niche  at  one  side 
for  the  statue  of  Plato  the  Divine.  The  Stao^vrite,  bv  means  of 
the  efficient  help  afforded  him  by  men  of  such  colossal  dimensions 
as  Lanfranc  and  Anselra,  Eoscelin  and  William  of  Champeaux, 
Abelard  and  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  Peter  Lombard  and  Alexander 
of  Hales,  Bonaventura  and  Albertus  Magnus,  Thomas  Aquinas, 
Duns  Scotus  and  Poger  Bacon,  governed  Spain,  France,  Ger- 
many, Italy,  and  Britain  autocratically  from  the  eleventh  to  the 
fifteenth  centuries,  and  still  controls  no  small  portion  of  Christen- 
dom. Logic,  proceeding  according  to  the  rules  of  Aristotle,  was 
held  capable  of  attaining  infallible  results.  The  citation  of  a  sen- 
tence or  an  opinion  from  that  philosojiher  carried  oracular  weight. 
The  whole  attention  of  the  age  was  given  up  to  metaphysical 
discussions  which  hardly  had  a  beginning  and  never  could  come 
to  any  conclusion.  Yet  this  unprofitable  war  of  wits  exercised 
the  intellectual  faculties,  produced  a  more  general  thirst  for  knowl- 
edge, developed  many  prodigies  of  acuteness,  vigor,  and  fertility, 
erected  many  a  stupendous  monument  of  erudition  in  the  vast 
tomes  which  were  evolved  from  restless  brains,  and  opened  the 
road  for  the  sounder  learning  which  was  to  follow. 

An  irrepressible  feeling  of  regret  arises  within  us  when  recall- 
ing the  narrative  of  the  Second  Eucharistic  Controversy,  that  the 
craven-heartedness  of  the  champion  who  then  undertook  the  de- 
fense of  Catholic  verity  robbed  him  of  the  praise  which  otherwise 
would  have  been  accorded  to  his  very  decided  ability  and  note- 
worthy breadth  and  liberality  of  thought.  The  courage  neces- 
sary in  order  to  confront  an  angry  concourse  does  not  always  ac- 
company noble  qualities  of  intellect ;  but  whenever  there  is  a 
conspicuous  lack  of  fortitude,  the  possession  of  mental  vigor  only 
enables  a  man  to  make  himself  more  contemptible.  Who  does 
not  feel  that  a  brain  as  mighty  as  that  of  Galileo  should  have 
strengthened  his  heart  against  the  terrors  of  the  Inquisition  ? 
Yet  had  that  philosopher  fallen  a  victim  to  theological  rage,  he 
would  have  died  in  behalf  of  a  discovery  important  enough  to 
science,  but  of  very  little  consequence  as  far  as  man's  eternal  in- 
terests are  concerned ;  and  so  we  are  disposed  to  urge,  in  excuse 
for  his  recantation  of  what  he  firmly  believed  to  be  astronomical 


» 


THE  EUCHARISTIC  CONTROVERSY.  311 

truth,  the  plea  that  it  is  hardly  worth  while  for  a  man  to  sacrifice 
himself  in  such  a  cause.  Poor  as  such  an  excuse  must  seem  to 
every  one  who  perceives  that  all  martyrs  to  truth  are  martyrs  to 
their  own  moral  integrity,  it  utterly  fails  ns  when  the  persecuted 
person  has  weakly  shrunk  from  suffering  in  behalf  of  so  vital  a 
doctrine  of  religion  as  tliat  concerning  the  nature  of  the  Holy 
Communion.  He  who  denies  the  faith  denies  the  Lord  who 
taught  it,  and  shares  the  guilt  of  Peter,  and  especially  so  when  his 
denial  touches  the  truth  of  the  Incarnation  as  nearly  as  does  the 
sanctioning  of  a  dogma  which,  by  necessarj-  implication,  destroys 
the  reality  of  the  glorified  body  of  the  Saviour,  by  dividing  it 
into  millions  of  fragments  to  be  devoured  by  as  many  mouths. 
Whether,  or  not,  unqualified  condemnation  is  the  due  meed  of 
every  one  who  swerves  from  truth  under  intimidation,  most  as- 
suredly nothing  else  can  be  expected  by  him  who  prefers  his  own 
ease  and  safety  to  the  maintenance  of  that  which  God  has  made 
known  for  the  sake  of  lost  sinners, thereby  seeking  to  rescue  them 
from  eternal  destruction.  Even  an  Athanasius  might  have  failed 
to  check  the  rushing  tide,  but  he  would  at  least  have  given  the 
just  cause  such  prestige  as  a  glorious  example  could  afford,  and 
saved  the  orthodox  from  the  shame  and  disgrace  in  which  they 
were  involved  by  the  pusillanimity  of  the  champion  whom  cir- 
cumstances forced  to  the  front. 

Happy  in  having  enjoyed  the  instruction  of  so  competent  and 
paternal  a  master  as  Fulbert  of  Chartres,  and  in  the  possession  of 
leisure  to  indulge  his  fondness  for  the  pursuit  of  knowledge, 
Berengarius  had  already  acquired  some  distinction  as  head  of 
the  cathedral  school  at  Tours,  and  as  archdeacon  at  Angers,  when 
he  commenced  to  animadvert  upon  the  doctrine  of  Radbert.  As 
soon  as  it  became  known  that  he  was  opposing  the  views  of  the 
Eucharist  which  were  daily  growing  in  popular  favor,  a  storm 
began  to  brew.  The  offense  of  Berengarins  was  an  almost  un- 
pardonable one  in  the  eyes  of  his  former  friend,  Lanfranc :  it  was 
that  he  refused  to  credit  the  conversion  of  bread  and  wine  into 
the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  and  adhered  to  the  reasonable  view 
that  the  only  change  was  a  figurative  one,  admitting  that  some 
transaction  occurred  at  the  celebration  by  which  the  benefits  of 
Christ's  atoning  death  were  communicated  to  the  faithful,  but 
holding  that  it  occurred  in  the  spiritual  world  only.  Lanfranc 
was  scarcely  less  than  furious,  and  his  powerful  enmity  caused 


312  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

matters  to  go  bard  with  the  arclideacon,  procuring  for  him  un- 
heard a  condemnation  by  a  Koman  synod  held  under  Leo  IX. 
in  1050,  and  a  citation  to  appear  before  a  council  which  was  to 
meet  the  same  year  at  Yercelli.     Upon  requesting  from  the  king 
of  France  permission  to  obey  the  summons,  he  was  seized  and 
ignominiously  consigned  to  a  dungeon,  and  deprived  of  his  goods 
by  sequestration.    Two  ecclesiastics,  who  had  the  courage  to  appear 
as  his  advocates,  had  to  be  arrested  in  order  to  protect  them  from 
the  rage  of  the  mob.     Berengarius  was  again  condemned.     Euse- 
bius  Bruno,  his  own  bishop  and  fast  friend,  and  others,  procured 
his  release,  but  advised  him  to  moderate  his  zeal.     Finding  in  his 
own  firm  conviction  assurance  that  his  views  needed  only  to  be 
known  and  ably  defended  in  order  to  triumph,  he  refrained,  it  is 
true,  from  advocating  tlietn  as  openly  and  vehemently  as  before, 
but  clung  to  the  hope  of  obtaining  for  them  an  impartial  hearing 
before  an  assembly  of  bishops,     lie  set  out  in  this  hopeful  strain 
to  attend  a  council  at  Paris,  but  prudently  listened  to  friendly 
advice,  and  thereby  saved  himself,  in  all  probability,  from  personal 
violence,  for  the  council  was  not  satisfied  till  it  had  condemned 
him  and  his  adherents  to  death.     Nothing  daunted,  he  presented 
himself  before  another  French  synod,  which  was  held  at  Tours  in 
1054.     On  this  occasion  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  shielded 
from  his  bitter  opponents  by  the  papal  legate  himself,  who  was  none 
other  than  the  redoubtable  Ilildebrand,  prime  minister  of  popes; 
who  became  convinced  that  the  views  of  Berengarius  were  not  by 
any  means  as  low  and  ultra  as  they  had  been  represented.     What 
exactly  were  the  opinions  of  the  cardinal,  we  cannot  say.     It  is 
probable,  however,  that  he  did  not  quite  coincide  with  the  accused, 
although  he  was  far  from  agreeing  with  Deoduin  of  Liege  and  the 
extremists  on  his  side ;  he  was  too  ftiir-minded  and  resolute  a  man 
to  be  controlled  by  the  cries  of  the  vulgar,  or  to  unite  in  any  un- 
just condemnation.     Ilildebrand  had  influence   enough  to  bring 
about  an  accommodation  on  the  basis  of  a  somewhat  ambiguous 
formula. 

Thus  far  the  champion  has  acquitted  himself  very  creditably 
indeed,  not  sufiering  himself  to  be  disheartened  by  the  mere  show 
of  numbers,  and  at  the  same  time  using  considerable  prudence  and 
moderation  in  advocating  the  doctrines  which  he  was  persuaded 
were  correct.  Hereafter  he  is  to  appear  at  less  advantage,  though 
the  tragedy  opens  with  his  manfully  repairing  to  Kome  and  invit- 


TEE  EUCHABI8TIC  CONTBOVEJRST.  313 

ing  the  whole  Chi'istian  world  to  a  thorough  examination  of  his 
doctrine.  Like  many  another  standard-bearer  of  truth,  he  did 
not  know  his  own  weakness  until  the  fated  hour  revealed  him  to 
himself.  Hildebrand,  not  caring  to  hazard  what  were  to  him 
more  important  interests  by  committing  himself  too  entirely  upon 
Berengarius's  side,  was  unable  to  carry  his  point  against  the  fanat- 
ical majority,  who  were  spurred  on  by  Cardinal  Humbert.  In 
1059  the  latter  forced  upon  the  unfortunate  advocate  of  the  genu- 
ine Catholic  doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence  a  formula  so  worded  as 
to  express  the  most  carnal  notions  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Return- 
ing to  France,  the  vanquished  combatant  strove  in  vain  to  drown 
his  remorse  in  a  lively  controversy  with  Lanfranc,  who  supported 
the  popular  side  with  remarkable  acuteness  and  power,  but  with- 
out going  all  the  lengths  of  Humbert  and  the  Italian  council.  At 
length  Berengarius  beheld  his  protector  seated  on  the  pontifical 
throne,  and  perhaps  hoped  that  he  would  now  live  unmolested. 
If  he  nursed  any  such  anticipations,  they  were  soon  destroyed,  for 
even  Gregory  YIL,  the  fearless  and  utterly  indomitable  antagonist 
of  monarchs,  was  not  strong  enough  to  rescue  this  man  from  the 
machinations  of  Cardinal  Benno.  Berengarius  covered  himself 
with  the  disgrace  of  a  second  recantation,  and  then  fled  from 
society,  and  wept  over  his  cowardice  and  faithlessness  during  a 
period  of  nearly  ten  years,  reaching  from  his  last  condemnation 
in  1079  to  his  death  in  1088. 

Thus  the  doctrine  of  Transubstautiation  triumphed,  and 
marched  forward  with  steady  steps  towards  its  final  victory  in  1215, 
when  the  decree  of  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council  would  enthrone  it 
as  a  dogma  of  the  Latin  Church.  It  could  hardly  have  succeeded 
in  enslaving  men's  minds  so  universally  but  for  the  extraordinary 
homage  which  was  paid  to  the  dicta  of  Aristotle,  who  attempted 
to  divorce  substance  from  phenomena  in  a  most  dangerous  fashion. 
Deep  thinkers  are  frequently  puzzled  in  regard  to  the  method  of 
proving  that  an  external  world  exists.  It  is  often  said  that  no  man 
ever  saw  a  stone.  He  sees  its  color,  its  shape,  its  size,  but  not  the 
thing  itself:  he  can  feel  that  it  is  smooth,  round,  hard,  but  cannot 
feel  the  thing  itself.  The  qualities  of  matter  are  all  that  our  senses 
can  be  cognizant  of,  that  subtile  thing  we  call  substance  always  and 
forever  eluding  their  grasp.  How  color,  shape,  size,  smoothness, 
roundness,  hardness,  brittleness,  and  elasticity  could  continue  to 
manifest  themselves  after  the  stone  itself  were  abstracted,  we  must 


314  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

leave  the  scholastics  to  answer  for  themselves.     Eidicnlous  as  the 
idea  of  separating  the  properties  of  a  body  from  its  snbstance  is  to 
our  modern  understandings,  it  is  nevertheless  one  possible  to  be 
advanced,  and  it  was,  virtually  at  least,  taught  by  the  Stagyrite. 
Adopting  the  theory  made  ready  to  their  hands,  the  schoolmen 
elaborated  the  theological  system  of  eucharistic  philosophy,  accord- 
ino-  to  which  it  is  held  that  while  the  accidents  or  properties  of  the 
bread  and  wine  remain,  the  suhstance  has  all  been  taken  away,  to 
make  room  for  the  insertion  of  the  suhstance  of  flesh  and  blood 
without  their  usual  accidents.     Such  is  the  solid  foundation  of  this 
scholastic  editice !     What  marvel  that  the  doctrine  of  Concomi- 
tance was  suffered  to  minister  to  priestly  arrogance,  by  taking  out 
of  the  mouths  of  God's  children  the  cup  of  His  atoning  blood,  on 
the  plea  that,  since  no  process  of  pressing  or  pounding  can  drive 
all  the  blood  out  of  the  flesh  of  slaughtered  bullocks,  the  invisible 
flesh  must  retain  the  invisible  blood,  and  therefore  the  communi- 
cant who  eats  the  consecrated  wafer  necessarily  partakes  of  the 
other  element,  and  does  not  need  to  have  it  separately  given  to  him ! 
"What  marvel,  either,  that  the  transubstantiated  elements  should 
become  so  perfectly  identified  with  the  Lord  Himself  that  devout 
souls  approach  them  with  that  overpowering  awe  which  is  inspired 
by  the  presence  of  Deity,  and  kneel  before  them  as  before  the  Ever- 
lasting'- Throne  itself!    And  what  more  natural  than  that  the  com- 
mon  people  should  become  oblivious  of  the  very  precept  which  was 
emphasized  in  the  Institution,  and  instead  of  eating  and  drinking 
the  blessed  symbols,  content  themselves  with  gazing  in  breathless 
reverence  upon  the  gorgeously  arrayed  celebrant,  insensible  the 
while  to  the  creeping  over  them  of  a  deathly  faintness  caused  by 
lack  of  spiritual  nourishment !     Yes !     And  one  needed  not  to  be 
a  prophet  in  order  to  foresee  that  the  common  sense  of  the  laity 
would,  sooner  or  later,  rebel  against  such  outrage,  and  demand 
that  their  parched  lips  should  be  moistened  with  the  wine  of 
Christ's  providing.     Innocent  III.  could  easily  obtain  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council  to  a  dogma  however  unsound 
and  pernicious,  but  he  could  not  prevent  the  enraged  Utraquists 
and  Calixtines  of  Bohemia  from  storming  the  town-house  of  Prague 
with  a  symbolical  cup  at  the  head  of  their  columns,  nor,  under  the 
skillful  generalship  of  John  Ziska  the  Blind,  from  shattering  three 
successive  armies  of  the  emperor  Sigismund,  who  had  basely  be- 
trayed Huss  and  Jerome  to  the  flames  of  Constance. 


CHAPTER  XYII. 

THE   LATIN   CHUKCH   TO   THE   TRroENTINE   ERA. 

We  have  already  mourned  over  the  decadence  of  the  Church, 
but  must  now  steel  our  hearts  for  the  contemplation  of  some  par- 
ticulars of  the  great  corruption  which  almost  made  one  branch  of 
it  an  offense  in  the  nostrils  of  all  virtuous  persons.  Deep  grief 
must  stir  every  pious  heart  in  dwelling  upon  the  sad  and  terrible 
downfall  of  those  who  were  mighty  in  Israel.  The  more  thor- 
oughly we  are  convinced  of  the  fact  that  the  church  of  Rome  was 
once  the  soundest  member  of  the  great  corporate  Church  which 
Christ  Himself  founded,  the  more  lamentable  will  sound  to  us  the 
story  of  her  fiilling  away.  Would  that  we  might  look  back  to  the 
Rome  of  the  General  Councils  without  having  our  view  inter- 
cepted by  the  shadow  of  great  darkness  which  settled  down  so 
thick  upon  the  Rome  of  the  Middle  Ages !  We  have  seen  a  Leo 
stemming  the  tide  of  imperial  dictation,  we  have  seen  a  Martin 
cheerfully  sealing  a  good  confession  with  his  blood,  and  have 
hailed  them  as  glorious  defenders  of  the  true  faith.  While  unable 
and  unwilling  to  withhold  our  admiration  from  the  devotion, 
heroism,  and  genius  of  Hildebrand,  and  while  we  even  venture  to 
sympathize  with  him  in  his  determination  that,  if  it  be  true  that 
either  the  church  must  rule  the  state  or  the  state  must  rule  the 
church,  then  the  sword  of  temporal  domination  should  be  wielded 
by  the  hand  which  already,  by  divine  apppointment  and  conse- 
cration, held  that  of  ecclesiastical  sovereignty,  we  cannot  but  feel 
our  transports  in  this  case  greatly  moderated  by  sad  reflection 
upon  the  consequences  which  ensued,  as  common  sense  would 
have  taught  any  thoughtful  person  to  expect,  from  the  establish- 
ment of  the  principles  for  which  he  battled.  Although  contend- 
ing, with  zeal  that  was  scarcely  moderate,  for  a  cause  which  was 
certainly  wrong,  Hildebrand  was  neither  an  immoral,  nor  an. 
irreligious,  nor  a  selfish,  nor  a  weak  man,  but  one  of  the  most 


316  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

devout,  virtuous,  and  able  men  that  ever  figured  in  the  high  places 
of  the  church  :  he,  at  least,  brought  no  disgrace  upon  the  papal 
chair.  Still  he  was  toiling  to  build  up  a  power  which  would 
prove  itself  the  deadliest  enemy  of  the  verv  church  to  which  he 
gave  his  life.  Absolute  power  can  safely  be  conceded  to  no 
human  being ;  for,  though  on  those  rare  occasions  when  it  falls  to 
the  lot  of  great  and  good  men,  it  may  for  a  time  work  immense  bene- 
fit ;  on  those  other  and  much  more  frequent  ones  when  it  is  attained 
by  the  incompetent  and  the  vicious,  it  will  enable  vice  to  spread, 
like  the  waters  of  a  spring  freshet,  over  all  barriers  and  obstructions, 
these  being  perhaps  demolished  forever.  The  ends  which  Hilde- 
brand  sought  to  compass  were  vast  and  noble.  Near  to  his  in- 
most heart  lay  the  desire  to  reform  the  church,  and  in  particular 
the  curia  or  papal  court,  and  towards  the  accomplishment  of  this 
some  of  his  mightiest  eflTorts  were  directed.  It  is  true  that  he 
aimed  at  the  establishment  of  a  huge  ecclesiastical  empire,  but  in 
his  view  and  intention  the  whole  strength  and  influence  of  the 
gold-encircled  tiara  were  to  be  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  true  religion 
and  fervent  piety.  There  was  need  enough  of  a  thorough  refor- 
mation, for  the  history  of  those  who  successively  occupied  St. 
Peter's  vaunted  chair  during  the  two  or  three  centuries  immedi- 
ately preceding  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  is  simply  appalling,  as 
a  chronicle  of  human  depravity.  Not  only  was  no  care  exercised 
in  the  choice  of  the  men  who  were  to  be  the  chief  pastors  of  Latin 
Christendom,  but  the  office  was  openly  bought  and  sold  by  a  pon- 
tift'  like  Benedict  the  Ninth,  who,  having  been  elected  at  the  age 
of  twelve  by  free  use  of  money,  shamelessly  disposed  of  the  prize 
which  he  had  drawn,  and  then  seized  it  back  two  years  later,  in 
1047.  The  advantages  attendant  upon  the  possession  of  such  un- 
limited power  were  basely  employed  for  the  promotion  of  un- 
worthy relatives,  for  the  advancement  of  incompetent  and  untrust- 
worthy fivorites,  for  the  annoyance  and  humiliation  of  enemies, 
for  the  amassing  of  wealth,  and  for  the  furthering  of  private  and 
unsanctified  schemes.  Females  of  loose  character  played  as  con- 
spicuous a  part  as  the  Pompadour,  or  the  viler  countess  Du  BaiTy, 
in  the  worst  days  of  Versailles  while  Louis  XY.  gave  himself  over 
to  debauchery.  The  abilities  and  self-devotion  of  Gregory  YII. 
and  Innocent  III.  raised  the  papacy,  step  by  step,  towards  the 
highest  pinnacle  of  ambition,  but  with  what  eff'ect  upon  the  popes 
themselves  a  very  cursory  glance  at  the  history  of  the  church  of 


THE  LATIN  CHURCH  TO  THE  TBIDENTINE  ERA.       317 

Eome  will  suffice  to  inform  us.  The  doubter  has  only  to  read  an 
account  of  the  extortions  practiced  by  those  popes  who,  preferring 
a  Gallic  atmosphere  and  the  protection  of  the  French  kiug  to 
the  hazards  of  a  residence  in  Italy,  where  they  would  be  coldly 
regarded  as  foreigners,  maintained  their  court  at  Avignon,  in 
Provence,  and  forced  by  all  kinds  of  avaricious  schemes  and  un- 
scrupulous measures  from  a  reluctant  clergy  some  compensation 
for  the  revenues  which  their  own  proper  territories  withheld ;  or 
of  the  struggles  between  rival  claimants  of  the  Apostolic  See  during 
the  period  of  the  Great  Schism,  which  followed  close  upon  the 
termination  of  the  "Babylonish  Captivity"  by  the  return  of 
Gregory  IX.  supported  by  the  powerful  influence  of  the  able  nun, 
Catharine  of  Siena,  to  Rome,  seventy  years  after  Clement  V.  had 
left  it.  As  time  advances  and  the  epoch  of  the  Reformation 
draws  near,  matters  seem  to  grow  worse  beneath  the  darkening 
heavens.  If  a  brighter  day  arose  out  of  that  mighty  convulsion, 
then  was  the  proverb  well  illustrated,  that  the  darkest  hour  pre- 
cedes the  dawn,  by  the  aggregation  at  that  precise  time  of  three 
such  popes  as  Alexander  YI.,  Julius  II.,  and  Leo  X.  About  a 
century  earlier  John  XXIII.  had  been  deposed  by  the  council  of 
Constance  on  account  of  certain  crimes  alleged  against  him,  as 
well  as  for  other  causes.  The  black  catalogue  of  offenses  includes, 
as  set  forth  in  formal  articles,  simony,  extortion,  adultery,  incest, 
the  sale  of  ecclesiastical  offices  and  bulls,  and  poisoning.  If  such 
an  enumeration  could  be  eclipsed,  that  marvel  was  achieved  by 
the  utterly  infamous  Alexander,  whose  miserable  life  was  acci- 
dentally, but  retributively,  terminated  by  a  poisoned  cup  which 
he  and  his  son,  Caesar  Borgia,  had  intended  for  other  mouths. 
Julius  substituted  carnal  weapons  for  the  ones  proper  to  spiritual 
warfare,  and  bent  his  energies  towards  the  aggrandizement,  by 
force  of  arms,  of  the  throne  which  he  had  obtained  through  the 
basest  means,  not  hesitating  to  turn  against  his  allies  whenever 
the  doing  so  seemed  to  promise  well  for  his  nefarious  schemes ;  at 
one  moment  using  the  French  against  the  Venetians,  and  then 
going  over  to  the  other  side,  and  stirring  up  the  maritime  repub- 
lic, and  the  Swiss  and  Spaniards  against  Lewis  XII.  of  France ; 
and  lavishing  upon  the  congenial  pursuits  of  camps,  battles,  and 
campaigns  that  time  and  those  energies  which  had  been  ostensibly 
dedicated  to  better  things.  His  character  corresponded  with  his 
course  of  life,  so  that  in  this  chief-bishop  we  recognize  arrogance 


318  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

and  fierce  cruelty  worthy  of  such  soldiers  of  fortune  as  Wallen- 
stein  or  Davoust.     Leo  X.  was  as  much  worse  than  these  pontifl's 
as  a  polished,  scholarly,  elegant  debauchee  and  infidel  is  worse 
than  coarse,  vulgar  ruffians.     In  him  the  bad  traits  of  the  Medici 
blood  predominated  over  the  good,  and  caused  him  to  abandon 
himself,  for  the  most  part,  to  sensual  indulgence.     Idle,  luxurious, 
and  vain,  his  literary  attainments  enabled  him  to  jest  with  more 
pointedness  against  tJiatfaUe  of  Christianity.     When  dark  shades 
are  altogether  used  in  coloring  a  picture,  we  are  very  apt  to  ques- 
tion the  impartiality  of  the  hand  which  paints  it.     "Was  there  no 
one  man  during  all  these  centuries  whose  integrity  and  purity 
would  show  all  the  clearer  for  the  sombre  background?     Had 
there  been  a  single  pope  of  any  prominence  whose  life  revived  the 
memory  of  apostolic  virtue  and  godliness,  and  whose  abilities  en- 
abled him  to  stamp  such  characteristics,  even  fointly,  upon  the 
church,  we  would  gladly  introduce  him  into  the  grouping,  for 
artistic  effect,  if  for  nothing  else.     Even  if  we  wished  to  paint  the 
picture  darker  than  the  truth  warrants,  this  end  would  best  be 
accomplished  by  resorting  to  just  such  a  device  of  contrast.     As 
it  is,  we  are  sorely  tempted  to  throw  in  a  dash  of  warmer  hue,  to 
surround  Caraffa  with  a  lustre  which  does  not   belong  to  his 
hauglity  and  imperious  character,  to  dwell  upon  the  three  or  four 
weeks  during  which  death  spared  in  Marcellus  II.  a  genuine  re- 
former, to  forget  the  trickery,  dissimulation,  and  excessive  pride 
which  tarnished  the  glory  of  Sixtus  V.,  and  the  heartless  cruelty 
of  Pius  Y.,  his  predecessor ;  but  inexorable  truth  reminds  us  that, 
while  even  Hildebrand  harbored  passions  scarcely  consistent  with 
the  Christian  profession,  the  vast  mass  of  the  Eoman  bishops  were 
either  utterly  insignificant  or  hopelessly  bad,  not  one  of  them 
worthy  of  mention  among  the  luminaries  of  an  earlier  period,  and 
some  of  them  so  utterly  profligate  that  language  could  hardly  ex- 
aggerate their  criminality,  and  that  the  only  compeers  for  them 
are  to  be  found  in  the  Neros  and  Domitians  of  elder  Eome. 

A  miracle  would  have  been  required  to  preserve  the  lower 
orders  of  the  ministry  and  the  other  members  of  the  episcopal 
bench  from  this  contagion.  Small  care  was  likely  to  be  exercised 
in  selecting  the  minor  ofiicials  of  such  a  debased  government. 
When  the  keeper  of  the  monkeys  could  be  converted  into  a  car- 
dinal by  the  papal  nod,  as  was  actually  done  under  Julius  III. ; 
when  an  unmarried  pope  could  have  six  Borgias  to   call   him 


THE  LxiTIN  CHUBCH  TO  TEE  TRIDENTINE  ERA.        319 

father ;  when  the  earthly  head  of  the  church  could  allow  himself 
to  remove  his  enemies  by  poison ;  when,  in  short,  no  species  of 
iniquity  was  an  unusual,  or  a  nocturnal,  visitor  at  the  Yatican, 
what  must  have  been  the  condition  of  the  clergy  at  large  ?  Is  it 
strange  that  a  custom  should  have  actually  prevailed  in  some  places 
requiring  every  parish  priest  to  take  a  concubine  before  he  was  in- 
stituted, in  order  to  protect  the  chastity  of  the  wives  and  daugh- 
ters of  the  community?  Is  it  strange  that  public  men,  digni- 
taries of  the  church,  and  all  persons,  indeed,  should  have  feared 
to  taste  the  eucharistic  cup,  where  it  liad  not  yet  been  taken  away 
from  the  multitude  ?  Is  it  surprising  that  extortionate  measures 
were  employed  to  replenish  their  own  coffers  by  a  clergy  who 
were  continually  subject  to  being  plundered  by  the  papal  tax- 
gatherers  ?  The  provincial  vices  may  be  only  faint  copies  of  the 
more  brilliant  crimes  of  the  capital ;  but  when  debauchery  and 
avarice  reign  supreme  at  the  source  of  power,  the  most  distant 
points  will  not  escape  infection. 

And,  indeed,  what  could  even  the  most  upright  and  zealous 
ministry  have  accomplished  when  loaded  down  with  such  dogmas 
as  the  Latin  clergy  had  to  carry  towards  the  dawn  of  the  Refor- 
mation ?  Should  we  choose  to  embark  upon  a  philosophical 
inquiry  as  to  what  are  the  chief  restraints  upon  the  sinner,  we 
would  perhaps  conclude  that  the  two  considerations  which  check 
the  believer,  whenever  he  feels  himself  most  powerfully  drawn 
towards  evil,  are  the  fear  of  eternal  punishment  and  the  knowl- 
edge that  this  terrible  fate  can  only  be  avoided  by  a  pardon  from 
a  just  God.  Love  may  be  a  more  powerful  emotion  than  fear, 
but  its  force  is  one  rather  of  reclamation  than  of  restraint.  After 
the  transgression  has  been  committed  and  the  enticement  to  its 
commission  ftided  away,  then  sorrow  for  having  offended  a  com- 
passionate and  long-suffering  God  and  our  crucified  Lord  takes 
possession  of  a  heart  awakened  to  love,  but  the  ovei'powering  vio- 
lence of  a  momentary  and  passionate  impulse  easily  obliterates,  for 
the  time,  every  trace  of  affection,  and  would  leave  us  to  fall  help- 
less victims  to  the  temptation,  were  it  not  for  the  terrible  warning 
which  fear  whispers  in  our  ears.  And  as  for  fear's  having  power 
over  us,  to  doubt  it  would  seem  little  short  of  absurd,  unless  we 
could  expunge  from  history  the  pages  which  tell  how  the  bravest 
troops  have  cast  away  the  record  of  perhaps  ten  campaigns,  along 
with  their  arms  and  accoutrements,  as  they  have  fled  with  blanched 


320  .      TEE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

faces  from  some  peculiarly  trying  situation.  If  tLis  be  true  of 
advanced  Christians,  how  much  more  true  must  it  be  of  those 
vast  multitudes  who  seem  to  hover  on  the  borders  of  righteous- 
ness, just  contriving  to  keep  themselves  from  the  clutches  of  the 
Evil  One !  Xow,  the  great  dread  which  is  inspired  by  the  men- 
tion of  Hell  arises  from  the  utter  hopelessness  of  his  lot  who  is  to 
be  cast  into  its  blazing  pit.  Let  it  be  once  nnderstood  that  the 
fires  of  Gehenna  are  to  torture  us  for  a  time  only,  and  we  will  at 
once  become  forgetful  of  their  heat  in  the  forethought  of  our  es- 
cape from  them.  In  the  next  place,  begin  by  limiting  the  time,  and 
go  on  to  provide  methods  of  easily  escaping  even  this  graduated 
punishment  by  doing  penance  or  paying  a  certain  amount  of 
money,  without  in  any  way  reforming  the  life,  or  submitting  the 
rebellious  will,  or  cleansing  the  wicked  heart,  and  you  surely  have 
made  long  strides  towards  the  sinner's  emancipation  from  all  fear 
of  the  hereafter.  If  any  step  remains  to  be  made,  that,  too,  will 
have  been  taken  as  soon  as  we  shall  have  removed  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ  from  the  position  which  He  alone  can  fill,  of 
Mediator  between  an  offended  God  and  His  alienated  subjects, 
and  shall  have  substituted  for  Him,  in  the  grandeur  of  His  per- 
fect humanity  and  the  gloiy  of  His  con  substantial  divinity,  poor, 
weak,  sinful  men  and  women  like  ourselves,  who  may  be  thought 
susceptible  to  influences  of  merely  human  pity  which  could  not 
affect  the  Perfect  One.  All  these  successive  advances  were  made 
by  the  Latin  Church.  For  Hell,  she  devised  a  purgatory  ;  to  the 
doctrine  of  purgatory,  she  added  those  of  penance  and  indulgences ; 
and  to  these,  again,  that  of  the  worship  of  the  Virgin  and  the 
Saints.  "What  had  a  member  of  the  church  to  fear?  If  he  took 
the  very  small  pains  necessary  to  avoid  excommunication,  he 
could  only  be  sent  to  purgatory,  at  the  worst ;  if  he  had  left  any 
money  behind  him,  the  church  would  see  to  it  that  his  heirs 
should  not  be  slow  in  buying  his  release  from  its  mitigated 
pains ;  and  all  this  could  be  accomplished,  in  almost  open  oppo- 
sition to  God,  through  the  all-powei*ful  intercession  of  those 
saints  whom  he  could  so  easily  propitiate  with  votive  ofiferings 
such  as  formerly  were  laid  on  the  shrines  of  heathen  gods.  Did 
it  not  almost  seem  as  though  Home  had  entered  into  a  conspiracy 
to  overthrow  religion  ?  What  more  could  she  have  done  ?  She 
had  turned  loose  upon  the  community  a  set  of  disorderly,  drunken, 
profligate  idlers,  and  put  into  their  hands  the  tremendous  engine 


THE  LATIN  CHURCH  TO  THE  TRIDENTINE  ERA.      321 

of  the  confessional,  and  filled  tlieir  mouths  with  a  doctrine  that 
might  have  subverted  the  most  approved  pietj ;  and  she  had  re- 
moved from  the  people  one-half,  at  least,  of  the  spiritual  nourish- 
ment necessary  to  support  in  vigorous  acti^'ity  the  life  implanted 
at  the  font.  Such  is  the  indictment  which  we  present  against  the 
Western  Church. 

That  we  have  drawn  it  up  with  a  very  weak  and  partial  pen,  will 
be  charged  iipon  iis  by  those  who  are  at  all  femiliar  with  the  facts 
of  the  case.  Rome  herself  cannot  deny  a  single  allegation  we  have 
brought  forward.  If  she  made  the  attempt,  her  own  doctors,  and 
synods,  and  popes  would  give  her  the  lie  direct.  Her  divines  de- 
manded a  reformation  vociferously  :  Constance,  Basle,  Trent  were 
the  scenes  of  three  tremendous  efibrts  to  reform  the  church  in  its 
head  and  memhers ;  and  popes  themselves  were  frequently  com- 
pelled to  admit  the  propriety,  the  necessity,  of  taking  some  active 
measures  looking  in  that  direction.  "What  she  has  so  repeatedly, 
in  so  many  different  ways,  and  with  such  frankness,  admitted 
openly  before  mankind,  she  cannot  now  deny  without  infringing 
the  great  law  of  estoppel^  and  bringing  upon  herself  the  well- 
merited  contempt  of  all  honest  persons. 

As  our  object  is  truth,  and  not  defamation,  we  will  do  well  to  con- 
sider whether  no  excuses  or  palliations  can  be  pleaded  in  behalf  of 
the  prisoner  who  stands  at  the  bar  of  our  judgment.  In  all  honesty, 
let  us  confess  that  there  is  much  which  ought  to  be  taken  in  mitiga- 
tion of  the  condemnation  we  cannot  avoid  pronouncing.  Even 
under  the  assuinption  that  the  crimes  of  the  Church  of  Rome  were 
as  black  as  the  most  fiery  imagination  can  paint  theui,  fairness  for- 
bids our  laying  them  unqualifiedly  on  the  sturdy  back  of  that  an- 
cient corporation.  The  fact  seems  to  be  that  Christianity  had 
deteriorated,  sadly,  in  the  mass.  That  close  interdependence  of 
relio-ion  and  civilization  which  is  natural  and  inevitable  had  been 
enlarged  and  strengthened  by  that  unfortunate  act  of  distrust  in 
God,  of  w^hich  the  Church  was  guilty  when  it  rose  to  the  shining 
bait  which  Constantine  cast  upon  the  water.  The  religious  capa- 
bility of  any  man,  or  any  collection  of  men,  must  depend  upon  the 
intellectual  and  moral  status  of  the  individual  or  community,  and 
that,  again,  must  oscillate  with  the  advancement  or  retrogression 
of  civilization.  Where  a  people  is  hardy,  brave,  abstemious,  and 
cultured,  the  average  of  piety  must  be  much  higher  than  it  would 
be  under  the  contrary  condition  of  affairs.     When  a  nation  has 


322  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

allowed  itself  to  become  lazy,  luxurious,  ignorant,  and  profligate, 
generations  must  elapse  before  it  can  be  brought  up  to  a  high- 
toned  morality.     Had  the  Christian  Church  only  possessed  pru- 
dence, foresight,   faith,   independence,   self-control,  and   courage 
enough  to  remain  in  the  position  in  which  Christ  had  placed  her, 
she  might  haye  preserved  her  own  people  from  degenerating  with 
the  subjects  of  the  Empire.     By  instilling  the  divine  precepts  of 
reyelation,  and  hedging  in  her  kingdom  with  those  rules  and  or- 
dinances which  she  might  have  found  it  expedient  to  enact,  she 
might  have  constituted  herself  the  guardian  of  learning,  philoso- 
phy, refinement,  and  even  of  material  comfort  and  mechanical 
skill.     In  so  doing  she  need  not  have  descended  from  her  own 
sphere,  since  her  commission  extends  to  the  salvation  of  the  race, 
not  only  from  the  pangs  of  eternal  torment,  but  also  from  all 
the  injurious  consequences  of  sin,  among  which  may  be  enumer- 
ated its  tendencies  towards  indolence,  self-indulgence,  and  vice. 
But  when  she  gave  her  hand  to  an  imperial  suitor,  she  subjected 
herself  to  all  the  vicissitudes  of  his  household.     From  the  day  of 
their  union  it  was  certain  that  the  fall  of  the  empire  would  terri- 
bly shake,  if  it  did  not  utterly  destroy,  the  visible  kingdom  of 
heaven.     Her   influence  was   insufficient   to   stay  the  downward 
progress  of  the  secular  power,  which  was  already  dying  of  inner 
rottenness.     Effeminacy  and  foreign  invasion,  in  immersing  the 
empire  of  the  Cffisars  in  a  vast  ocean  of  ignorance,  darkness,  and 
utter  ruin,  enveloped  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  the  fogs  of  super- 
stition, doctrinal  error,  and  immoral  living.     It  is  not,  therefore, 
just  to   charge  the    church  of  Eome  with  the  necessary  conse- 
quences of  a  fault  in  which  the  whole  Church  participated.     The 
age  itself  was  a  corrupt  one :  the  Latin  church  shared  in  this  cor- 
ruption, partly,  it  is  true,  from  the  inherent  necessities  of  the  case, 
but  chiefly  by  reason  of  the  unholy  alliance  by  which  the  Catholic 
Church  had  needlessly  involved  herself  in  the  catastrophes  of  the 

State. 

If  it  is  unfair  to  throw  the  entire  blame  for  the  demorahzation 
of  society  upon  the  Latin  church,  it  cannot  be  proper  to  depict 
that  sad  condition  as  being  more  complete  and  universal  than  it 
really  was.  In  reading  ordinary  Protestant  accounts  of  that  pe- 
riod one  feels  as  though  truth  and  righteousness  had  perished  out 
of  the  land,  and  it  had  been  entirely  given  over  to  riot  and  all 
iniquity,  and  left  to  wallow  in  the  slough  of  abandoned  impiety. 


THE  LATIN  CEUBCH  TO   THE  TRIBENTINE  ERA.      323 

If  any  vestiges  of  sanctity  remained,  we  are  instructed  to  search 
for  them  exclusively  among  the  inhabitants  of  certain  favored 
Alpine  valleys  and  perhaps  of  a  few  other  districts  in  the  south 
of  France,  who  rejoiced  in  the  names  of  "Waldenses  and  Albigen- 
ses,  and  enjoyed  the  double  distinction  of  having  been  denounced 
as  heretics  and  exposed  to  the  horrors  of  crusade  and  incpiisition. 
But  who  does  not  know  the  proneness  of  man  to  exaggerate? 
Were  there,  indeed,  no  faithful  parish  priests  who  tended  their 
flocks  with  assiduity,  and  guarded  them  with  unwavering  dili- 
gence, where  the  blue  waves  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay  and  the  rugged 
fastnesses  of  the  Asturian  Mountains  protected  them  from  too 
close  intercourse  with  a  decaying  civilization,  where  the  impreg- 
nable fortresses  of  the  Rhine  shielded  an  industrious  peasantry 
from  foreign  exactions,  where  the  sturdy  Saxon  nourished  in  his 
sea-girt  isle  those  sentiments  which  gradually  embodied  them- 
selves in  that  charter  of  freedom,  the  English  Common  Law,  or 
even  in  the  very  heart  of  the  papal  domain  itself?  The  idea  is 
monstrous !  Was  Luther  the  only  man  of  his  generation  Avho 
souo-ht  the  Lord  with  all  his  heart  ?  N"o  more  than  he  was  the 
first  one  to  raise  an  outcry  against  the  prevailing  immorality. 
Wycliffe .  had  preceded  him  by  a  century  and  a  half,  and  been 
quite  as  outspoken  and  fearless  as  he,  Huss  and  Jerome  had  fol- 
lowed the  Englishman,  Tauler  and  Ruysbroek  had  trodden  the 
same  rough  and  dangerous  path,  Savonarola  had  hurled  his  fiery 
eloquence  at  the  "  Nero  of  the  Pontiffs,"  Lord  Cobham  had  suf- 
fered on  the  gibbet,  and  yet  we  are  to  think  that  the  Latin  church 
was  wholly  corrupt !  John  Gerson,  the  foremost  theologian  of 
his  age  and,  at  one  time,  chancellor  of  the  Sorbonne  at  Paris,  to- 
gether with  another  chancellor  of  the  same  university,  Peter 
D'Ailly,  boldly  advocated  reform,  though  retaining  unimpaired 
their  fellowship  with  the  church  ;  pope  after  pope  proclaimed  the 
necessity  of  restoring  ecclesiastical  afi'airs  to  greater  purity ;  coun- 
cil after  council  was  held  at  the  demand  of  irrepressible  public 
sentiment  in  order  to  bring  about  that  desirable  consummation ; 
and  yet  we  are  prohibited  from  believing  that  the  entire  Western 
Communion  was  not  thoroughly,  totally,  and  irreclaimably  cor- 
rupt !  Why  !  the  very  success  of  Luther  and  Calvin  is  proof  posi- 
tive that  the  age  was  ripe  for  a  change,  and  therefore  that  the 
mass  of  the  church  had  been  working  towards  a  reformation  for 
at  least  a  century  or  two  previously.     Or  shall  we  credit  the  pre- 


324:  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

posteroiis  notion  that  the  wonderful  preaching  of  two  or  three 
men  aroused  all  Europe  from  a  di-eam  of  wickedness,  and  drew 
hundreds  of  thousands,  almost  upon  the  instant,  into  the  paths  of 
virtue  and  correct  doctrine  ?  Kot  a  few  cardinals, — men  of  note, 
like  Caraffa,  Contarini,  Morone,  and  Keginald  Pole, — belonged  to 
a  confraternity  or<]i;anized  at  Eome  itself  under  the  name  of  the 
"  Oratory  of  Divine  Love,"  and  strove,  by  intercourse  with  each 
other,  to  promote  piety  and  devotion  among  themselves  and,  less 
directly,  among  others.  Could  this  have  occurred  in  a  Christen- 
dom that  was  as  far  gone  from  holiness  as  some  would  paint  it  ? 
Could  the  majority  of  eighteen  thousand  ecclesiastics  demand  re- 
form in  head  and  members,  if  the  church  were  wholly  corrupt  ? 
Yet  that  number  was  assembled  at  the  great  reforming  synod  of 
Constance,  which  sat  from  1414  to  141 S.  Bad  as  pope,  and  clergy, 
and  people  may  have  been,  erroneous  and  pernicious  as  may  have 
been  many  of  the  dogmas  commonly  taught,  some  virtue  and 
some  piety  must  have  survived,  down  to  the  era  of  Luther,  in  that 
vast  and  powerful  section  of  the  church  which  acknowledged  al- 
legiance to  the  patriarch  of  Old  Home. 

Let  our  glance  now  be  turned  upon  the  doctrinal  condition  of 
the  Latin  church,  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  whether  the  preva- 
lent errors  were  merely  of  a  floating  and  adventitious  nature,  or 
whether  they  were  ingrained  in  the  system  of  the  church  bo  as  to 
be  part  and  parcel  of  its  own  substance.  That  the  departures 
from  the  purity  of  the  faith  were  flagrant,  and  injurious,  and 
numerous  has  already  been  admitted  with  suflicient  minuteness 
and  distinctness.  Some  of  these  errors,  such  as  those  of  Transub- 
stantiation  and  Purgatory,  had  already  received  the  sanction  of 
councils  and  been  openly  taught  as  the  Catholic  faith.  This 
surely  was  sad  enough,  and  yet  there  existed  no  insurmountable 
barrier  between  membership  in  the  Roman  church  and  adherence 
to  the  primitive  faith,  all  that  was  exacted  of  a  catechumen  in 
order  that  he  should  be  admitted  to  holy  baptism  being,  in  respect 
of  faith,  the  profession  of  the  ancient  creeds.  No  man  was 
compelled  to  believe  in  the  physical  transformation  of  the  ele- 
ments, in  the  theory  of  concomitance,  in  the  existence  of  a  purga- 
tive fire,  in  the  propriety  of  worshiping  the  Virgin  or  the  saints, 
or  in  the  possibility  of  being  more  than  sufficiently  righteous.  It 
might  expose  him  to  much  discomfort  and  even  to  some  degree  of 
danger,  if  his  conscience  should  oblige  him  to  oppose  these  errors 


TEE  LATIN  CHURCH  TO  THE  TBIDENTINE  ERA.        325 

openly,  but  he  iniglit  reject  them  himself  and  still  honestly  retain 
his  standino-  in  the  Roniish  communion.  After  the  Tridentine 
period  this  became  impossible,  but  down  to  that  date  the  case  was 
precisely  as  stated  above. 

"What  was  the  effect  upon  the  status  of  the  Latin  Church  of 
these  erroneous  teachings  and  of  vicious  practices  ?  Having  care- 
fully traced  the  lineage  of  the  Western  Church  to  the  time  of  her 
separation  from  the  Eastern,  and  for  some  centuries  later,  we  may 
perhaps  be  justified  in  putting  the  question,  When  did  she  cease 
to  be  a  living  branch  of  the  one  great,  divinely-founded  corpora- 
tion-ecclesiastical ?  After  preserving  her  identity  so  long,  how 
did  she  come  to  lose  it  ?  Did  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council  stab 
her  fatally  with  the  dagger  of  transubstantiation,  or  the  Council 
of  Florence  with  a  formal  definition  of  purgatoiy  1  Will  some  one 
inform  us  just  how  much  error  in  matters  of  the  faith  is  required 
to  extinguish  the  ecclesiastical  candle?  While  our  friends  are 
engaged  in  the  quest  of  the  amount,  we  will  hazard  the  afiirmation 
that  as  long  as  the  Apostles'  Creed  is  retained  and  used  as  the 
baptismal  formula,  no  amount  of  doctrinal  aberration,  however 
excessive,  will  cause  a  church,  which  administers  the  sacrament  of 
new-birth  in  the  name  of  the  Trinity  and  by  a  valid  ministry,  to 
cease  being  a  church  and  become  a  mere  voluntary,  man-made 
society.  When  a  coi-poration  has  once  been  organized  under  a 
charter,  that  charter  continues  in  force  till  it  has  expired  by  natu- 
ral or  express  limitation,  been  voluntarily  surrendered  by  the  sur- 
viving members,  or  revoked  by  the  authority  which  granted  it. 
Inasmuch  as  the  Latin  Church  has  never  surrendered  her  charter, 
or  had  it  revoked  by  Christ,  it  only  remains  for  us  to  inquire 
whether  there  are  any  limitations,  either  implied  or  expressed,  in 
the  wording  of  the  document.  None  such  appear  on  the  surface 
other  than  those  included  in  the  conditions  that  she  must  retain  a 
ministry  whose  commission  proceeds  from  Christ  Himself,  and 
that  this  ministry  must  baptize  with  water  in  the  name  of  the 
Trinity ;  conditions  which  Eome  has  always  sedulously  fulfilled. 
If  absolute  correctness  of  belief  is  requisite  for  sonship  in  the 
family  of  God,  then  no  man  ever  yet  belonged  to  that  family.  If 
a  church  perishes  the  moment  it  swerves  from  the  straight  line,  few 
have  prolonged  their  existence  many  decades.  The  Scriptures, 
and  particularly  the  Book  of  Eevelation,  clearly  imply  that  a 
church  can  err  greatly  both  in  faith  and  practice,  and  still  be  a 


326  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

church.     One  might  about  as  properly  argue  that  a  man  loses  his 
identity  when  he  catches  the  small-pox,  as  insist  that  a  church  loses 
its  identity  by  becoming  corrupt.     Peter  continued  to  be  Peter 
through  the  threefold  denial  and  the  ensuing  repentance :  so  the 
seven  Asiatic  churches  were  still  acknowledged  to  be  churches 
while  St.  John  was  being  bidden  to  reprove  them  for  unfaithful- 
ness.    There  is  also  abundant  language  in  the  Apocalypse  which 
indicates  that  the  mysticiil  Babylon  was  to  be  an  organization 
which,  though  apostate,  would  nevertheless  be  a  real  church.     A 
church  is  one  thing,  a  society  another:   nothing  imaginable  can 
convert  a  mere  human  society  into  the  Church  which  Christ  built 
upon  the  Kock  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  incalculable  force  is  re- 
quired to  wrench  from  its  foundation  an  edifice  which  the  hand 
of  the  Master  has  planted  on  the  granite.     Indisputabl}'  the  Ro- 
man church  was  so  planted,  and  we  may  rest  assured  that  she  is  a 
veritahh  church  to  this  very  day.     Does  it  seem  a  question  of  no 
consequence  whether  she  is  so,  or  not?     Men  are  very  impatient, 
at  present,  of  all  argumentation  intended  to  show  that  an  organi- 
zation,  which   is   extremely  corrupt,  still   retains   its   coi^jorate 
identity.     This  state  of  mind  is  excusable  enough.     When  a  man 
lies  disfigured,  polluted,  dying  with  some  nauseous  disease,  the 
ordinary  spectator  listens  with  feeble  attention  to  the  praise  of  his 
noble  qualities  and   unusual    abilities.     AVliat  difference  can  it 
make  that  through  his  veins  flows  the  pure  blood  of  the  highest 
ancestry,  tliat  blood  being  poisoned  with  the  deadly  fever  virus? 
Better  and  haj)pier  is  the  dullest  boor  whose  cheek  wears  the  hue 
of  health  than  a  Xewton  or  a  Bacon  whose  brain  is  filled  with  the 
wild  fancies  of  delirium.     But  let  us  suppose  that  our  patient 
recovers,  that  the  enfeebled  mind  regains  its  tone.     "What  then  ? 
Is  the  peasant  still  as  valuable  to  society  as  the  sage?     The  vast 
distance  which  separates  the  one  class  from  the  other  cannot  be 
obliterated.     The  uncultivated  mind  may  be  greatly  improved  by 
careful  education,  but  the  lack  of  mental  power  can  be  supplied  by  no 
imaginable  means  short  of  a  new  creation.     The  sick  man  may  not 
betray  his  brilliant  endowments  to  a  casual  observer,  and  certainly 
derives  small  advantage  from  them  himself  while  they  are  rendered 
nugatory  by  disease :  nevertheless  he  has  fallen  heir  to  a  great 
inheritance,  and  if  he  can  once  escape  from  beneath  the  cloud, 
will  be  at  liberty  to  enjoy  it,  and  to  lavish  his  wealth  of  thought 
and  imagination  upon  the  enraptured  world.     Sons  of  men  become 


TEE  LATIN  CHURCH  TO  THE  TRIDENTINE  ERA.       327 

the  sons  of  God,  with  titles  to  the  riches  of  eternity,  by  being  bap- 
tized into  His  Church :  they  may  rebel  against  Him,  and  tempo- 
rarily forfeit  their  titles ;  but  they  remain  His  children  notwith- 
standing, and  do  not  fall  back  into  the  condition  from  which 
baptismal  new-birth  raised  them.  The  children  of  wrath  can 
strive  with  any  amount  of  diligence  and  perseverance  to  serve 
their  Creator,  but  remain  aliens  to  His  kingdom  and  family  until 
they  have  been  born  again  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit  in  the  font 
of  the  One,  Holy,  Catholic,  and  Apostolic  Church.  A  number  of 
men  may  band  together  in  order  to  accomplish  certain  purposes  ; 
but  until  the  society  has  been  recognized  by  the  state  in  which  it 
exists,  it  possesses  none  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  a  coi*porate 
body,  cannot  hold  land,  sue  or  be  sued,  nor  enter  into  contracts 
or  agreements.  Millions  of  earnest  believers  may  organize  them- 
selves into  a  religious  society,  but  that  society  has  no  status  in  the 
spiritual  world  till  it  has  been  openly  chartered  by  the  Almighty 
Kuler,  no  matter  how  good  its  members  may  be,  how  sound  its 
constitution,  or  how  pure  its  faith;  while,  on  the  contrary,  a 
regularly  chartered  church  remains  a  church  through  error,  con- 
fusion, and  vice,  at  least  until  its  very  foundations  are  torn  up. 

While  the  great  bosom  of  Latin  Christendom  was  heaving  with 
the  violent  emotions  which  attended  upon  its  struggles  after  re- 
form, Rome  herself  was  compelled  to  recognize  the  need  of  im- 
provement. After  several  of  those  sections  which  remained  loyal 
to  her  had  held  provincial  synods  which  attempted  to  move  in 
that  direction  ;  after  the  Galileans  had  met  at  Paris  in  1528,  and 
Hermann  of  Cologne  had  assembled  a  i-eformatory  council  in  1536 ; 
she  perceived  the  necessity  of  taking  some  steps  herself  for  the 
confirming  of  her  own  children's  minds.  In  1545  began  the  almost 
interminable  sessions  of  that  great  council  which  hardened  into 
permanent  dogmas  so  many  viscid  opinions  that  might  otherwise 
have  been,  in  course  of  time  and  by  the  providence  of  God,  drained 
off  into  the  abyss  from  which  they  had  been  vomited.  The  Refor- 
mation obliging  the  Romish  Church  to  move,  there  were  only  two 
directions  in  which  she  could  go ;  and  as  she  would  not  follow 
the  Reformers  in  their  advance  towards  virtue,  and  piety,  and 
truth,  she  could  only  rash  still  deeper  into  immorality,  impiety, 
and  eiTor.  "When  this  so-called  general  council  of  Trent,  packed 
with  creatures  of  the  papacy,  had  dragged  its  slow  length  through 
eighteen  years,  its  members  turned  their  faces  homewards,  having 


328  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE   FAITH. 

embodied  most  of  the  leading  errors  of  Romish  teaching  in  author- 
itative dogmatic  statements,  which  were  soon  to  receive  the  official 
sanction,  of  a  papal  bull.  Before  the  Creed  of  Pius  lY.  had  been 
issued  and  made  binding  upon  the  consciences  of  the  faithful,  there 
was  a  possibility  of  remaining  within  the  Eomish  Connnunion  and 
vet  rejecting  all  tenets  contrary  to  the  primitive  faith ;  but  that 
unfortunate  document,  by  imposing  as  terms  of  admission  twelve 
articles  which  involved  the  acceptance  of  the  errors  of  purgatory, 
invocation  of  saints,  indulgences,  transubstantiation,  and  other 
false  doctrines,  shut  the  door  of  the  Romish  Church  upon  all 
such  as  should  be  unable  to  reconcile  these  with  the  Scriptures 
and  the  testimony  of  antiquity.  From  the  year  156i  onwards 
the  status  of  the  Churcli  of  Rome  has  been  materially  changed,  on 
account  of  the  enforcement  of  the  new  Creed.  It  is  not  i-xiv  to  judge 
of  her  at  the  era  of  the  Reformation  by  what  she  has  become  since 
through  the  counter-reformation,  which  gradually  converted  into 
her  very  substance  what  had  previously  clung,  as  extraneous  mat- 
ter, to  her  skirts. 

That  inextinguishable  hatred  should  reign  between  Catholics 
and  Protestants  is  more  natural  than  commendable.  Hereditary 
enmity  is  very  apt  to  disregard  the  metes  and  boundaries  of  rea- 
sonableness, moderation,  and  Christian  charity.  Time  has  been 
when  a  man's  piety  was  measured  by  the  intensity  of  his  hostility 
to  Rome,  and  th.e  volubility  with  which  he  was  accustomed  to  de- 
nounce every  practice,  good,  bad,  or  indifferent,  of  that  church: 
then  there  was  no  sin  which  could  not  be  atoned  for  by  unsi)aring 
denunciation  of  the  "Babylonish  Harlot;"  hatred,  not  charity, 
being  allowed  to  hide  a  multitude  of  transgressions.  Color  might 
be  found  even  at  this  day  for  the  opinion  that,  in  some  quarters,  the 
same  gauge  is  still  used.  Now,  there  is  nothing  more  impetuous 
and  thoughtless  than  rage,  and  of  all  species  of  animosity  the 
most  violent  and  uncontrollable  is  that  kind  which  busies  itself 
about  relio-ious  matters.  The  mutual  dislike  of  Catholics  and  Prot- 
estants  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  prolonged  and  very  bitter  struggle. 
First  came  the  relii>;ious  war  of  German  v,  which  set  brethren  face  to 
face  on  many  a  bloody  field  before  Maurice,  going  over  to  the  side 
of  the  Reformers,  chased  Chai-les  V.  across  the  Tyrolese  mountains 
and  wrested  the  Peace  of  Passau  from  Ferdinand.  The  Protestant 
Netherlands,  after  groaning  for  years  under  the  tyranny  of  Car- 
dinal Granvella,  and  the  still  heavier  oppression  of  that  apt  and 


THE  LATIN  CHURCH  TO   THE  TRIDENTINE  ERA.       329 

able  tool  of  a  bigoted  prince,  tbe  duke  of  Alva,  after  seeing  tbeir 
noblest  citizens  die  tbe  ignominious  deaths  assigned  to  Egmont 
and  Horn,  after  enduring  as  long  as  tbey  could  all  sorts  of  civil 
exactions  combined  with  tbe  barbarities  of  the  Inquisition,  at  last 
formed  tbe  alliance  of  Ghent  under  the  influence  of  William  the 
Silent,  and  then  entered  upon  a  desperate  war  with  their  Spanish 
sovereign.  What  horrors  fell  upon  that  devoted  land  during  its 
heroic  effort  to  free  itself  from  foreign  oppression,  the  heart  shud- 
ders at  recalling.  Towns  sacked  as  only  the  brutal  and  licentious 
soldiery  of  a  despot  such  as  Philip  II.  could  sack  them,  cruelties 
perpetrated  such  as  it  required  the  education  of  the  Auto-da-fe  to 
inflict,  a  whole  country  submerged  by  the  piercing  of  the  dykes, 
the  assassin-hand  of  a  religious  fanatic  slaying  the  prince  of 
Orange  in  the  royal  banquet-hall  of  Delft  at  the  instigation  of 
priests ;  these  things  left  their  impress  behind  them.  When  shall 
the  Huguenots  of  France  forget  the  jubilee  ordered  by  the  pope 
on  receiving  the  news  of  that  horrible  massacre  which  laid  low  in 
death  the  gray-haired  Coligny  and  twenty-tive  thousand,  at  least, 
of  his  brethren,  in  the  brief  space  of  three  days  ?  The  transactions 
of  that  awful  night,  when  Charles  IX.  amused  himself  by  firing 
upon  the  Calvinists,  have  not  only  coupled  the  name  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew and  the  year  15Y2  with  the  blackest  infamy,  but  were 
sufiicient  to  load  any  cause  with  execrations.  In  order  that  the 
flame  of  hatred  might  not  die  out,  the  duke  of  Guise  and  the 
Holy  League  were  careful  to  keep  France  embroiled  with  its  best 
citizens  in  a  contest  which  either  smouldered  on,  or  blazed  fiercely 
out,  until  La  Rochelle  had  at  last  submitted,  and  five  hundred 
thousand  exiles  carried  the  memory  of  their  woes  into  other 
climes.  Even  England  was  not  suffered  to  repose  quietly  in  the 
environment  of  her  four  seas.  The  insult  of  Philip's  attempt  to 
subjugate  her  might  be  forgiven  in  consideration  of  the  total  fail- 
ure which  made  the  "Invincible  Armada"  a  standing  jest  in 
history,  but  the  intrigues  of  the  Jesuits  and  the  Gunpowder  Plot 
are  not  so  easily  to  be  condoned.  The  Thirty-years'  War  was 
enough  by  itself  to  have  left  sores  that  would  rankle  for  centuries. 
The  Catholics  must,  in  any  event,  have  learned  to  hate  more  utterly 
the  cause  which  drew  down  upon  them  an  ice-floe  from  the  North 
just  when  their  generals  had  brought  the  Protestant  Estates  to 
their  feet,  the  cause  which  inundated  Germany  with  the  pious 
hosts  of  the  heroic  Gustavus  Adolphus,  which  encouraged  the 


330  THE  CHUBCE  AND   THE  FAITH. 

Chancellor,  Axel  Oxenstiern,  to  continue  the  struggle  after  that 
chivalrous  monarch  had  paid  tlie  penalty  of  his  daring,  which  gave 
strength  to  the  arras  of  Baner,  Bernhardt  of  Weimar,  Torstenson, 
Wrangel,  Turenne,  and  the  able  leaders  who  contributed  their 
skill,  braver}',  and  devotion  towards  the  final  triumph  attained  by 
the  Protestant  allies  in  the  Peace  of  Westphalia ;  and  these,  on  the 
other  hand,  must  have  experienced  a  growing  detestation  of  a  re- 
ligion and  its  adherents  which  seemed  to  countenance  the  ruthless, 
unscrupulous,  senseless  pillaging  and  cruelty  of  Tilly  and  Wallen- 
stein,  and  gave  Germany  over  to  a  desolating  warfare  which  de- 
populated, as  well  as  devastated,  it  during  an  entire  generation. 

As  long  as  the  terror  of  Rome  aiirighted  the  nations,  there 
was  considerable  excuse  for  indulging  in  feelings  towards  her 
which  savored  of  vindictiveness.  Shall  we  still  confess  to  enter- 
taining such  dread  of  her  collapsed  power  ?  Shall  we  nurse  an 
enmity  more  bitter  than  that  which  was  stirred  up  between  Eng- 
land and  France  by  Cressy,  Poictiers,  Agincourt,  and  the  burning 
at  the  stake  of  the  saviour-maid  ?  Or  shall  we  not  cherish  more 
Christian  sentiments,  and  strive  to  quench  the  unappeasable  strife? 
Let  us,  at  least,  be  just,  if  not  generous.  Let  us  exclude  from  our 
hearts  that  blindness  of  prejudice  which  sees  nothing  whatever  of 
good  in  an  enemy.  Let  us  bury,  as  far  as  prudence  will  permit, 
the  recollections  of  past  persecutions  and  fights.  Rome  is  not  to 
be  won  by  fierce  denunciations,  nor  will  the  interests  of  true 
religion  be  subserved  by  painting  a  foe  blacker  than  the  truth 
warrants.  Bad  as  that  church  may  be,  perverted  as  may  be  her 
moral  sense,  purple  as  may  be  her  hands  with  the  blood  of  the 
saints,  polluted  as  may  be  her  lips  by  the  kissing  of  idol  shrines, 
is  there  not  within  her  still,  even  down  to  this  late  day,  even  now 
that  the  dogmas  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  and  of  Papal  In- 
fallibility have  become  defide,  "the  promise  and  the  potency"  of 
something  better  in  the  future  ?  With  her  magnificent  organi- 
zation what  a  church  would  she  not  be,  could  she  only  be  purged 
from  her  errors  and  vices,  and  brought  back  to  a  veritable  Catho- 
licity ! 


CHAPTER  XYIII. 

THE    CONTINENTAL   KEFOEMATION. 

Luther  was  not  so  much  more  successful  than  the  numerous 
reformers  who  had  preceded  him,  on  account  of  an  j  deep-laid  plot, 
which  lie  had  deliberately  undertaken  to  execute,  and  in  the  ac- 
complishment of  which  he  expended  the  energies  of  an  unchange- 
able will ;  but  because  circumstances  forced  upon  him  the  leader- 
ship in  a  great  movement  for  which  the  age  was  ripe.  Endowed 
by  inheritance  with  a  robust  and  active  nature,  firm  in  his  con- 
victions, and  resolute  in  maintaining  them,  he  was  marked  by 
destiny  as  the  man  in  Europe  whose  huge  hand  should  shiver  the 
fetters  which  shackled  the  members  of  Christ.  He  did  not  assail 
Rome ;  but  she  turned  her  engines  of  war  upon  him,  as  he  stood 
among  his  own  sheep,  watching  over  them  while  they  fed.  A 
weak  man  would  have  crouched  before  the  storm,  or  rushed  to 
meet  it  half-way  :  Luther  remained  at  his  post,  and  blenched  not 
when  the  pitiless  hail  burst  upon  him  most  furiously.  Only  while 
his  friends  held  him  captive  in  the  fortress  of  the  Wartburg,  did 
he  even  seem  to  avoid  danger.  With  equal  fearlessness  did  he 
burn  the  papal  bull  at  Wittenberg  and  confront  his  enemies  in 
the  diet  of  Worms.  To  withhold  from  him  the  praise  of  honesty, 
high  ability,  dauntless  courage,  and  unusual  self-devotion  were 
grossly  unfair  ;  to  pretend  that  he  was  actuated  by  low  motives, 
such  as  those  of  obstinacy,  pride,  and  sensuality,  were  a  libel 
against  human  nature.  At  once  a  scholar,  a  patriot,  and  a  Chris- 
tian, the  friar  of  Erfurt  is,  and  deserves  to  be,  the  foremost  figure 
of  an  age  distinguished  by  such  names  as  Charles  V.,  Francis  I., 
Henry  VIII,,  and  Cardinal  Wolsey.  His  faults  were  those  which 
seem  almost  inseparable  from  the  vocation  to  which  he  was  called, 
and  may  be  summed  up  in  the  allegation  that  he  was  an  extremist. 
Perhaps  had  he  been  anything  else  he  would  have  failed,  for  those 
only  appear  able  to  contend  successfully  with  the  force  of  long- 


332  TEE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

established  custom  whose  convictions  possess  such  overwhehning 
strength  that  they  themselves  are  swept  helpless  along  with  the 
rushing  tide. 

Yet  the  question  before  us  is  not  as  to  Luther's  honesty, 
ability,  or  provocations.  However  much  we  may  sympathize 
with  him  in  his  noble  struggles  to  free  a  groaning  and  suffering 
people  from  spiritual  tyranny,  or  value  the  good  results  which  did 
flow  from  his  heroic  perseverance ;  however  difficult  it  may  be  to 
discover  any  way  by  which  he  could  have  escaped  from  the  dire 
calamity  of  an  entire  breach  with  the  Church  Catholic ;  however 
proud  we  may  be  of  his  victory  over  a  hierarchy  which  was  on 
the  point  of  riveting  upon  the  limbs  of  prostrate  Christendom  the 
chains  of  pei-petual  slaver}' ;  we  must  nevertheless  perceive  that 
an  entirely  different  matter  from  any  of  these  claims  our  atten- 
tion ;  which  is  simply  this,  "Was  the  sect  or  denomination  which 
Luther  founded  a  genuine  Church  ?  This  is  a  pure  question  of 
fact,  with  which  sentimentality  has  nothing  to  do.  If  the  Lu- 
theran organization,  when  perfected,  was  a  branch  of  that  corpora- 
tion which  Christ  chartered,  then  was  it  a  real  church ;  but  if  not, 
— if  it  was  a  mere  society  created  by  man's  will, — then,  no  matter 
what  excuse  its  membei*s  and  founders  may  have  had  for  breaking 
away  from  the  communion  of  saints,  no  matter  how  admirable 
may  have  been  its  platform  of  belief,  its  laws  and  regulations, 
and  its  mode  of  woi-ship,  no  matter  how  pious  and  earnest  may 
have  been  the  children  to  whom  it  gave  birth,  it  was  not  part  and 
parcel  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  The  hot-headed  partisan  never 
listens  to  an  argument  concerning  aught  upon  which  he  has 
thoroughly  made  up  his  own  mind,  but  customarily  takes  refuge  be- 
hind abusive  epithets.  The  philosopher,  on  the  contrary,  having 
discovered  that  he  is  quite  ca])able  of  arriving  at  wrong  conclu- 
sions upon  almost  any  subject,  and  that  his  most  cherished 
opinions  have  often  been  shattered  under  a  well-directed  blow  as 
completely  as  the  Prince  Kupert's  drop  is  said  to  be,  holds  himself 
ready  to  examine  anew  almost  any  topic,  when  courteously  invited 
to  do  so  by  a  reasoner  who  merits  attention. 

The  inquiry  which  is  now  forcing  itself  upon  us  being  so  ex- 
tremely distasteful,  let  us,  for  a  moment,  turn  aside  from  it,  and 
look  with  careful  eye  upon  the  doctrinal  position  of  the  great 
German  reformer,  not  with  a  view  to  discovering  whether  it 
varied   in  many   particulars   from   the   faith   of    the    undivided 


THE  CONTINENTAL  REFORMATION.  333 

church,  but  rather  to  determining  whether  its  fundamental  prin- 
ciple be  not  one  fatal  to  sound  doctrine  and  opposed  to  all  cer- 
tainty of  hope.  The  Latin  Church  had  laid,  for  many  centuries, 
too  much  stress  upon  the  idea  of  paternity  in  government,  seek- 
ing to  keep  her  children  in  perpetual  pupilage,  forbidding  to  them 
the  free  use  of  the  Bible  and  requiring  them  to  take  the  law  alto- 
gether, with  abject  submissiveness,  from  the  mouth  of  the  priest- 
hood. This,  of  course,  was  a  great  overstraining  of  her  autliority. 
Did  she  desire  to  make  babes  of  grown  men  ?  Luther  was  for  too 
much  of  a  man  to  submit  to  any  arbitrary  edicts  which  would 
drive  from  its  proper  throne  in  his  mind  that  Understanding 
which  is  the  responsible  guide  of  every  one's  actions.  He  asserted 
the  dignity  of  his  manhood ;  but  forgot  to  break  off  at  the  right 
point.  In  rebelling  against  tyranny,  he  lost  sight  of  rightful  au- 
thority. His  teaching  hands  over  to  each  individual  the  entire 
right  of  forming  his  own  judgment  upon  any  religious  topic,  with- 
out regard  to  the  opinions  of  divines,  the  solemn  decrees  of  coun- 
cils, or  the  unanimous  testimony  of  Christians.  Church  authority 
over  the  human  mind  was  theoretically  reduced  to  nothing. 
However  ignorant  and  stupid,  however  vicious  and  depraved, 
each  man  was  competent  to  decide  the  knottiest  questions  in  the 
science  of  theology.  No  knowledge  of  letters,  no  aquaintance 
with  geography,  history,  or  languages,  no  experience  in  the  pur- 
suit of  virtue,  nor  fa,miliarity  with  holy  thoughts  was  at  all  requi- 
site in  order  to  expound  dogmatic  teaching,  apply  prophecy,  or 
remove  apparent  inconsistency.  And  as  for  hearkening  to  the 
Spirit  of  God  speaking  through  the  coi-porate  church,  or  even  re- 
lying upon  the  witness  borne  by  the  many  independent  provincial 
churches  to  the  faith  as  once  delivered  to  them,  those  were  ex- 
ploded notions  of  mediaeval  Romanism  not  worthy  any  longer  of 
so  much  as  a  sober  thought.  Is  there,  then,  no  medium  betvs^een 
slavish  subjection  and  unbridled  license?  Did  these  Reformers 
indeed  perceive  how  radical  was  the  change  that  had  been  intro- 
duced ?  Surely,  they  could  not  have  realized  that  it  was  cutting 
away  the  very  ground  from  under  their  feet,  by  removing  all  pos- 
sibility of  proving  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible.  Strange  result  of 
an  effort  to  loose  the  four  angels  from  the  chains  which  held  them 
bound  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates !  It  is  honestly  intended  to 
restore  the  sacred  volume  to  its  just  place  in  the  veneration  of 
Christian  people ;  and  the  well-meant  attempt  ends  in  reducing 


334  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

that  book  to  the  status  of  an  ordinary  production  of  literary  skill. 
Nor  did  the  new  movement  conduce  to  reverent  handling  of  the 
Scriptures ;  unless  it  be  more  seemly  arbitrarily  to  eject  the  epistle 
of  St.  James  as  being  an  "  epistle  of  straw," — because  it  might  be 
supposed  to  contain  a  different  doctrine  of  justification  from  that 
which  had  been  put  into  the  mouth  of  St.  Paul, — than  to  add  cer- 
tain books  to  the  canon  without  due  wan-ant.  When  Carlstadt 
and  others  insisted  on  carrying  the  right  of  private  judgment 
further  than  was  pleasing  to  his  more  chastened  soul,  Luther  had 
an  opportunity  of  discovering  the  true  nature  of  his  theory,  and 
perhaps  bethought  him,  when  contemplating  the  wild  aberrations 
of  the  fanatics,  that  a  man  is  likely  to  reap  what  he  sows.  The 
Lutherans  themselves  may  never  have  run  into  any  extreme  lati- 
tudinarianism  or  eccentricities  of  belief;  but  ought  not  to  use  that 
fact  as  a  conclusive  reply  to  what  we  are  urging,  until  they  can 
show  that  the  existence  of  the  fact  is  not  itself  due  to  the  restrain- 
ing influence  of  those  who  have  adhered  to  that  good  old  rule  of 
Vincent  of  Lerins  which  they  have  thrown  away. 

Returning  now  to  the  main  inquiry,  we,  are  constrained  to  con- 
fess that  we  are  unable,  even  after  the  most  diligent  search,  to 
discover  one  single  argument  to  support  the  claims  of  the  Lutheran 
body  to  be  a  real  church.  Intentionally  or  unintentionally,  the 
German  Reibrmers  did  create  a  new  society,  which  was  not  con- 
tinuous with  the  old  in  any  important  respect,  but  one  which, 
while  composed  largely,  or  almost  entirely,  of  those  who  had  been 
members  of  the  other,  was  governed  by  different  regulations,  ruled 
by  officers  who  lacked  official  confirmation,  and  in  general  based, 
not  upon  any  divine  charter,  but  upon  the  unsanctioned  and  inde- 
pendent action  of  mere  men.  If  there  is  any  truth  whatsoever  in 
the  theories  which  have  already  been  propounded  and  supported 
with  what  seemed  to  us  conclusive  reasoning,  a  church  without  a 
bishop,  if  it  be  a  church  at  all,  cannot  survive  the  death  of  those 
who  have  received  ordination  from  episcopal  hands  before  the 
separation  which  deprived  it  of  apostolic  superintendence.  The 
Lutheran  ministers,  at  first,  had  the  power  of  baptizing  and  of  con- 
secrating the  elements,  because  they  happened  to  have  been  regu- 
larly ordained  to  the  priesthood  -^-ithin  the  Romish  communion ; 
but  all  of  them  together  could  not  make  even  so  much  as  a  deacon, 
since  the  charter  of  the  church  provides  only  for  episcopal  ordina- 
tion.    Consequently,  the   clergy  in  the  second  generation  were 


THE  CONTINENTAL  BEFOBMATION  335 

destitute  of  all  delegated  authority,  and  had  fallen  to  the  level  of 
mere  representatives  of  the  people.  A  church  without  a  ministry 
must  be  without  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  and  is  in  a  bad  enough 
case ;  but  that  is  not  the  worst  aspect  of  the  position.  A  Spanish 
provincial  synod  has  been  made  to  do  duty  for  an  oecumenical 
council,  and  even  establish,  against  the  whole  current  of  primitive 
catholicity,  the  validity  of  lay-baptism;  but  there  is  required 
more  than  the  authority  of  Elliberis  to  uphold  a  principle  which 
is  really  fatal  to  the  whole  theory  of  a  church.  We  need  not  in 
this  matter  fear  to  take  a  stand  which  will  bring  down  upon  us 
the  storm  of  popular  ridicule :  there  is  a  chance  here  for  another 
Athanasius,  if  our  age  can  produce  one.  England  never  gave 
birth  to  a  clearer  intellect  or  a  sounder  judgment  than  were  pos- 
sessed by  Daniel  Waterland.  Who  would  not  rather  be  "  wrong" 
with  Bull  or  Waterland  than  "  right "  with  the  unthinking  mass, 
especially  when  one  considers  that  the  "  errors  "  of  those  men  are 
almost  sure  eventually  to  assume  the  fair  features  of  truth  ?  The 
arguments  of  Waterland,  of  Lawrence  before  him,  and  of  Ogilby 
since,  have  never  been  satisfactorily  answered.  Kelsall  was  a 
mere  child  in  the  embrace  of  his  gigantic  antagonist.  Bingham, 
of  course,  favored  the  same  side,  but  who  would  think  of  pitting 
him  against  the  invincible  Waterland  as  a  profound  reasoner :  the 
learned  compiler  would  show  to  poor  advantage  in  such  a  contest. 
If  the  palm  of  victory  is  to  be  torn  from  the  grasp  of  Dr.  Clarke's 
great  adversary  and  conqueror,  the  champion  has  yet  to  enter  the 
lists.  Until  his  appearance  we  may,  without  presumption,  openly 
range  ourselves  under  the  ensign  of  a  man  whose  opinions  have 
received  increments  of  weight  with  each  successive  generation, 
confident  that,  however  unpopular  may  still  be  this  particular  one, 
the  happy  day  will,  sooner  or  later,  come  which  shall  behold  a 
wonderful  change.  The  burden  of  proof  lies  upon  the  opposite 
side, — if,  at  least,  any  success  has  attended  our  efforts  in  evolving  a 
theory  of  ecclesiastical  organization  and  continuity  ;  for  the  entire 
authority  and  power  to  convey  divine  grace  reside,  according  to 
our  theory,  in  the  regularly  commissioned  ministry.  That  an 
exception  exists  in  the  case  of  baptism  is  a  startling  assertion,  and 
one  that  requires  to  be  thoroughly  substantiated  before  we  listen 
to  it ;  and  until  something  more  forcible  can  be  adduced  than  the 
decree  of  an  obscure  synod,  or  the  practices  of  churches  in  which 
the  reins  of  discipline  have  been  sadly  relaxed,  we  feel  little  dis- 


336  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

posed  to  remodel  an  hypothesis  which  explains  all  other  facts,  from 
the  era  of  the  Apostles  to  our  own. 

But  suppose,  now,  it  should  be  found  that  more  than  one 
bishop  has  received  no  baptism  other  than  what  has  just  been 
shown  to  be  none  at  all,  will  not  then  the  whole  fabric  of  the 
Apostolic  Succession  be  destroyed  by  the  Invalidity  of  Lay-bap- 
tism ?  How  so  ?  What  difference  does  it  make  to  any  one  but 
himself  whether  any  bishop  has  been  baptized  ?  This  is  a  ques- 
tion of  authorization,  and  if  God  authorizes  a  person  to  act  for 
Him,  the  validity  of  his  acts  is  not  at  all  affected  by  the  personal 
state  or  condition  of  the  man  himself.  It  may  be  ill-advised  to 
appoint  officers  over  a  society  who  are  not  members  of  it,  but  that 
certainly  can  be  done.  Should  the  discovery  be  made  that  the 
United  States  minister  at  the  court  of  the  Czar  is  not  a  citizen  of 
the  Eepublic,  that  irregularity  would  not  shake  the  validity  of  his 
representative  acts  within  the  just  scope  of  his  powers.  "Would 
the  Supreme  Court  reverse  a  decision  because  it  had  been  rendered 
by  a  Chief-justice  who  was  an  alien  ?  Although  the  Constitution 
especially  provides  that  the  President  shall  be  a  natural-born 
citizen,  even  in  such  a  case  of  plain  ineligibility  the  judges  would 
probably  hesitate  to  pronounce  all  the  executive  acts  of  a  whole 
administration  overturned  by  the  unfortunate  circumstance  that 
the  individual,  who  had  been  formally  and  solemnly  recognized, 
who  had  duly  taken  the  oath  of  office  and  held  the  position  for  the 
entire  term  undisputed,  was  born,  say,  in  Cuba !  Yery  excellent 
reading,  in  this  connection,  would  be  the  general  law  of  Agency. 
In  short,  anij  human  heing  who  has  been  duly  appointed,  or 
whose  appointment  has  been  explicitly  recognized,  by  the  Al- 
mighty, is  qualified  to  act  for  Him,  and  his  acts  will  be  effica- 
cious ;  whereas  none  other  is  so  qualified,  nor  will  his  acts  hold. 
Saul  was  king  of  Israel,  Balaam  was  a  prophet  of  God,  Caiaphas 
was  high-priest,  Judas  was  an  apostle ;  each  of  them,  irrespective 
of  unrighteousness,  because  he  had  been  duly  authorized  as  God's 
a2;ent  in  the  duties  of  his  office.  Whether  ever  ordained  to  the 
priesthood,  or  not,  whether  ever  made  a  deacon,  or  not,  whether  a 
communicant,  or  not,  whether  confirmed,  or  not,  though  even  un- 
baptized,  and  even  though  the  most  wretched  of  all  criminals,  if 
a  man  has  been  consecrated  bishop  by  a  bishop  in  the  true  suc- 
cession, bishop  he  is,  and  bishop  he  will  remain  till  he  dies ;  and 
his  official  acts  will  not  be  nullified  by  the  misfortune  of  his 


THE  CONTINENTAL  REFORMATION.  337 

having  been  himself  an  alien  from  the  commonwealth  of  the  true 
Israel. 

We  are  aware  that  the  title  of  Churches  was  commonly  con- 
ceded to  both  the  Lutheran  and  the  Calvinistic  bodies  by  English 
churchmen  of  the  time  of  Hooker  the  Judicious,  and  regret  the 
necessity  of  diflering  from  men  for  whom  we  have  such  deep  ven- 
eration, and  to  whom  we  owe  such  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  having 
transmitted  to  us  the  privileges  we  enjoy  in  the  fellowship  of  the 
Cathohc  Church  ;  but  do  not  feel  ourselves  in  any  way  precluded, 
by  modesty  or  deference,  from  calling  in  question  the  correctness 
of  the  views  they  formed  upon  such  a  qumstio  vexata,  in  the  heat 
of  a  terrible  struggle.  The  English  Reformers  were  great  and 
good  men,  but,  unless  they  had  been  infallible,  could  not  at  once 
and  completely  have  emancipated  themselves  from  the  bondage 
under  which  the  mind  of  Christian  England  had  so  long  writhed. 
The  question  of  the  Church  was  perhaps  the  one  upon  which  they 
were  the  most  likely  to  be  pei-plexed,  it  being  in  many  respects, 
as  presented  to  them,  an  entirely  new  one,  and  one,  also,  in  the 
decision  of  which  their  sympathies  and  prejudices  would  come 
most  powerfully  into  play.  We  need  feel  no  astonishment  that 
they  allowed  their  antipathy  to  Rome,  and  their  dread  of  her  great 
and  threatening  power,  to  drive  them  into  closer  relations  with 
others  who  were  contending  against  her  usurpations,  than  was 
justified  by  the  attitude  in  which  these  chose  to  stand  towards  the 
Church  of  Christ.  At  the  same  time  we  ought  to  be  careful  that 
we  ourselves,  with  the  superior  advantages  we  enjoy,  especially  in 
not  being  exposed  to  dread  of  papal  tyranny,  should  take  broader 
and  calmer  views  upon  this  momentous  topic. 

If  it  is  urged  against  us  that  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran  com- 
munions have  contrived  to  get  on  very  well  without  ministry,  sac- 
raments, or  settled  faith,  have  nurtured  many  an  orthodox  theo- 
logian, have  enrolled  many  a  glorious  name  in  the  list  of  the  saints, 
and  have  contributed  liberally  of  men  and  money  towards  the 
work  of  carrying  the  glad  tidings  to  heathen  lands,  we  protest 
that  these  facts  have  been  full  before  our  mind,  from  the  very  first. 
Undoubtedly  the  Holy  Ghost  has  been  poured  out  upon  the  mem- 
bers of  these  societies  in  no  stinted  measure :  to  deny  it  would  be 
little  short  of  committing  the  unpardonable  sin.  Yet  we  do  not 
see  that  this  acknowledgment  weakens  us  very  much.  We  do  not 
shrink  from  any  proper  test, — ^nor  from  every  improper  one.    Had 


338  TEE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

God  made  comparative  piety  the  criterion  of  a  church's  claims, 
we  would  not  despair  of  being  able  to  designate  at  least  some  few 
characteristics  of  churchly  piety  which  stamp  it  as  being  of  finer 
fabric  and  more  enduring  substance  than  any  other.  Fortunately, 
however,  the  gracious  Lord  puts  no  such  invidious  task  before  us 
as  that  of  computing  and  comparing  the  kinds  and  degrees  of 
righteousness  and  holiness  in  rival  communities  or  organizations ; 
but  reserves  that  for  His  own  omniscience,  allotting  to  us  the  far 
easier  one  of  deciding  the  question  of  historical  continuity.  If  a 
man  desires  to  know  whether  a  given  society  is  the  Church 
of  God,  he  needs  not  to  wear  out  his  life  in  futile  efforts  to  esti- 
mate its  comparative  moral  worth,  but  has  only  to  inquire  whether 
that  organization  derives  its  coi-porate  being  from  the  primitive 
and  apostolic  Church,  which  Christ's  own  hand  was  to  build  upon 
the  Eock  of  Ages. 

The  reformation  which  was  begun  in  Switzerland  by  Ulric 
Zwingle  and  (Ecolampadius,  carried  forward,  after  the  former  had 
fallen  on  the  field  of  Cappel,  by  Oswald  Myconius  and  Ileniy 
Bullinger,  and  then  given  over  to  the  able  maiuigement,  first,  of 
the  Frenchman,  William  Farcl,  and  afterwards  of  his  more  dis- 
tinguished countryman,  John  Calvin,  was  far  more  radical  in  its 
nature  than  that  instituted  and  established  by  the  Saxon  school. 
Though  lacking  the  breadth  of  mind  required  to  grasp  truth  in  its 
many-sidedness  as  presented  in  the  Catholic  faitli,  Calvin  possessed 
amazing  acuteness  of  intellect  and  extraordinary  talent  for  organ- 
izing. In  mental  constitution,  he  was  almost  a  model  Roman  of 
the  Empire, — logical,  shrewd,  persevering,  and  above  all,  system- 
atic. The  religious  philosophy  which  he  devised  was  as  devoid 
of  feeling  as  one  of  Aristotle's  syllogisms.  The  system  of  church 
government  which  he  erected  at  Geneva,  and  imposed  upon  all 
his  followers  as  the  only  Scriptural  mode,  was  altogether  the 
product  of  his  fertile  brain,  never  having  been  so  nmch  as  dreamt 
of  till  he  came  upon  the  stage.  Whatever  palliation  or  justifi- 
cation may  be  found  for  Luthei-'s  establishment  of  a  separate 
ecclesiastical  organization,  none  such  will  avail  a  man  who  sets  up 
a  wholly-new  device  of  his  own,  and  labels  it  Scriptural.  No 
trammels  of  tradition,  precedent,  or  custom  restrained  the  impetu- 
ous reformer  of  Noyon,  who  deemed  himself  competent  with  his 
own  hand  to  carve  out  a  faith  and  a  church  better  than  those 
which  had  been  so  greatly  prized,  and  ably  and  zealously  defended, 


THE  CONTINENTAL  REFORMATION.  339 

by  Poly  carp  and  Cyprian,  Ambrose  and  Chrysostoin,  Athanasius 
and  the  Gregories.  Calvinism  may  have  vitality  enough  to  insure 
its  long  continuance  on  earth  in  the  future,  but  has  not  enough  to 
enable  it  to  trace  its  origin  back  of  its  founder.  Should  it  yet 
endure  ten  thousand  years,  the  stubborn  fact  would  still  confront 
it  that  it  began  to  be  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  then  sprang, 
not  from  the  Latin  Church  as  a  daughter  from  her  mother,  but 
from  the  restless  intellect  of  a  French  refugee,  like  Minerva  from 
the  travailing  brain  of  her  sire. 

Alas  that  the  highest  qualities  of  head  and  heart  are  seldom 
bestowed  upon  the  same  individual!  Had  Luther  and  Calvin 
only  possessed  the  calmness  and  breadth  of  Melancthon  and 
Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  or  had  these  last  been  gifted  with  a  little 
more  of  the  independence  and  energy  which  characterized  the  two 
former,  how  different  might  have  been  our  verdict  upon  the  status 
of  the  reformed  communions ! 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE    ENGLISH     CHURCH. 

PROxniTTT  to  the  vast,  changeful,  heaving,  "boisterous,  beauti- 
ful, mercilessly-powerful  sea  seems  necessary  in  order  to  the  de- 
velopment of  the  very  highest  powers  of  man.     In  the  narrow 
strip  of  land  which  lies  along  the  eastern  border  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, lived  and  thrived   the  j^eople  of   David,   Solomon,  and 
Daniel.     Between  the  sea-washed  shores  of  two  peninsulas  arose 
the  two  mighty  nations  of  antiquity  which  extended  their  sway 
over  three  continents.     Far  north  of  Greece  and  Eome,  in  a  lati- 
tude which  would  be  scarcely  habitable  but  for  the  ameliorating 
influence  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  surrounded  by  tempestuous  oceans, 
which  dash  furiously  against  cliif  and  bar,  and  enveloped  much 
of  the  time  in  dense  fogs,  Celtiberian  mariners  early  discovered 
twin  islands,  a  residence  in  which  appeared  to  them  so  desirable 
as  to  lure  them  away  from  the  delights  of  their  o^vn  romantic 
Spain.     It  was  the  fate  of  England  to  be  frequently  overrun  and 
conquered.      After   the  Anglo-Saxons    had    driven  the  original 
Britons  into  Wales  and  Cornwall,  they  were  themselves  griev- 
ously harassed  by  Danish  freebooters,  and  then  subjugated  by  the 
Kormans.     The  earliest  historical  conquest  of  the  country  was  by 
the  Romans  under  the  Emperor  Claudius,  nearly  a  century  after 
their  first  invasion  of  the  island  under  Julius  Coesar  in  55  b.  c, 
but  they  did  not  attempt  to  resettle  it  except  so  far  as  to  establish 
an  occasional  camp  or  colony.     Two,  at  least,  of  these  conquests, 
the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Norman,  were  about  as  thorough  as 
conquests  could  be,  expelling   and    exterminating   the   defeated 
tribes  or  reducing  them  to  a  miserable  condition  of  servitude.     It 
might  be  thought  that  national  enmity  and  caste  pride  would  have 
prevented  intermamages.    Not  so.    Briton,  Angle,  Saxon,  Frisian, 
Dane,  Roman,  Norman  overcame  every  scruple,  and  sought  matri- 
monial alliance,  with  small  regard  to  any  other  considerations  than 


THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  341 

those  of  interest  and  impulse.  Thus  there  grew  up  a  race  hardly 
less  composite  and  vigorous  than  its  language,  and  seemingly  heir 
to  the  best  qualities  of  all  its  ancestors.  The  earliest  inhabitants, 
indeed,  are  reported  to  have  been  unwarlike,  and  generally  im- 
becile ;  but  quite  the  reverse  seems  to  have  been  the  truth ;  and  no 
such  allegation,  at  all  events,  can  be  brought  against  the  valorous 
German  invaders,  those  fearless  sailors  and  dauntless  pirates,  the 
Danes,  nor  the  disciplined  and  gallant  followers  of  William  the 
Norman.  The  descendants  of  such  races  were  not  likely  to  prac- 
tice tame  submission  to  tyrannical  authority.  Favored  by  its 
insular  position,  which  protected  it,  in  a  measure,  from  the  inter- 
ference of  its  neighbors,  the  nation  which  resulted  from  the  com- 
mingling of  so  many  streams  was  enabled  to  turn  its  almost  undi- 
vided attention  towards  the  consolidation  and  confirmation  of  its 
government  and  power,  and  to  the  perfecting  of  its  institutions. 
One  of  the  first  European  countries  to  rise  from  the  general  wreck 
of  the  Middle  Ages  an  independent  and  organized  nation,  England 
soon  became  the  home  and  hope  of  civil  liberty.  How  much  ec- 
clesiastical freedom  was  likewise  indebted  to  her,  let  it  be  our 
pleasant  employment  to  ascertain. 

The  church  was  planted  in  Britain  very  early.  In  314  the 
bishops  of  York  and  London  were  present  at  the  council  of  Aries, 
and  in  305  St.  Alban  was  beheaded  near  Yerulam,  a  martyr  to  the 
true  feith.  But  the  early  British  church  was  involved  in  the  ruin 
of  its  adherents,  being  driven  with  them  into  the  fastnesses  of  the 
western  districts  of  the  island.  Woden  and  Thor  usurped  the 
deserted  altars,  and  the  greater  portion  of  England  embraced  once 
more  the  dream  of  the  Scandinavian  mythology.  The  Saxon 
Heptarchy  was  pagan  throughout,  until  the  marriage  of  Ethelbert, 
king  of  Kent,  with  Bertha,  a  Frankish  princess,  introduced  Luid- 
harJ  into  the  realm  as  her  chaplain,  he  being  a  bishop  of  her  own 
country,  and  likewise  encouraged  Gregory  the  Great  to  send  the 
prior  of  a  Benedictine  monastery  at  Eheims,  with  forty  of  his 
brethren,  as  missionaries  to  the  blue-eyed  ^^  Afigels^''  of  the  North. 
The  task  before  Augustine,  when,  in  597,  he  landed  on  the  shores 
of  Kent,  was  nothing  less  than  that  of  converting  a  heathen  na- 
tion, for  the  only  effect  that  the  Christianity  of  the  defeated  race 
had  had  upon  the  conquerors  was  to  create  within  their  breasts 
hatred  and  contempt  for  a  religion  which  had  suffered  its  votaries 
to  be  so  completely  overthrown.     There  was  no  act  of  intrusion 


342  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

upon  the  part  of  the  monk  or  his  master,  for  the  Saxons  had  taken 
good"  care  that  the  jurisdiction  of  the  British  bishops  should  be 
confined  to  their  own  people.  Scarcely  the  remotest  chance  ex- 
isted that  those  prelates  would  ever  have  tlie  slightest  influence 
over  the  haughty  and  supercilious  victors.  Xo  sound  reason  for- 
bade any  foreign  bishop,  who  might  imagine  that  he  saw  a  fitting 
opportunity,  to  enter  and  take  full  possession.  The  interest  which 
Gregory  manifested  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  fair-complexioned 
islanders  did  him  much  credit,  and  the  bravery  and  self-devotion 
displayed  by  the  missionaries  themselves  ought  to  secure  for  them 
a  tribute  of  gratitude  from  all  loyal  members  of  the  church  which 
they  founded,  and  of  which  their  leader  became,  by  the  consecra- 
tion of  Vergilius,  bishop  of  Aries,  and  the  investiture  of  the  Latin 
patriarch,  first  archbishop. 

Ireland  had  been  approached  by  the  missionaries  of  Rome  at 
a  much  earlier  date.  Palladius,  the  first  envoy  of  Coelestine,  did 
not  meet  with  much  success,  but  the  famous  St.  Patrick  displayed 
such  zeal  and  capacity  for  the  work  that  the  natives  were  won 
over  in  flocks,  so  that  in  the  fortieth  year  from  the  time  of  his 
coming  he  was  enabled  to  found  the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Ar- 
magh. This  was  in  472.  In  505  there  issued  from  the  youthful 
church  of  Ireland  a  man  hardly  less  distinguished  than  its  own 
Apostle,  and  actuated  by  the  same  evangelizing  spirit.  Thirty- 
two  years  before  the  Ptoman  monks  landed  on  the  Isle  of  Thanet, 
St.  Columba  had  erected  the  standard  of  the  cross  among  the 
northern  Picts,  the  southern  Picts  having  long  before  welcomed 
St.  Ninias,  a  Briton,  within  their  borders.  Columba  converted 
the  kingdom  of  Bridius,  the  son  of  Meilochon,  and  established  the 
celebrated  monastery  of  lona  in  an  island  ceded  him  for  that  pur- 
pose. Somewhat  later,  at  the  invitation  of  Oswald,  king  of 
Northumbria,  the  pious  Aidan  took  possession  of  an  island  which 
was  to  rival  in  ecclesiastical  renown  that  lona  he  had  forsaken  so 
reluctantly.  With  great  propriety  was  the  seat  of  the  new  bishop- 
ric named  Lindisfarae,  or  Holy  Island.  In  planting  it  so  that  with 
one  ear  it  listens  to  the  deep  roar  of  the  surf,  and  with  the  other 
to  the  lowing  and  bleating  of  numerous  herds  and  flocks ;  with 
one  eye  sweeps  far  and  wide  over  a  boundless  expanse  of  blue, 
and  with  the  other  describes  the  curve  of  a  beautiful  and  culti- 
vated shore  from  a  bold  promontory  which  lies  seven  miles,  or 
thereabouts,  to  the  south  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Tweed,  which 


THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  343 

is  about  the  same  distance  northward ;  nature  seemed  to  intend  it 
as  the  abode  of  those  whose  high  calling  it  is  to  stand  between 
time  and  eternity,  the  living  and  the  dead ;  and  well  did  the  pious 
characters  and  saintly  lives  of  many  of  its  children  justify  the 
choice  of  it  as  the  site  of  a  second  monastery. 

The  subjection  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy  to  the  rule  of  Christ 
was  neither  a  short,  nor  an  easy,  work.     However,  from  the  two 
centres  of  Canterbury  and  Lindisfarne  emanated  influences  which 
little  by  little  encroached  upon  the  realms  of  the  Walhalla,  and  at 
last  drove  the  fierce  gods  of  the  Northmen  into  temporary  exile. 
But  the  arrogant  pretensions  of  Augustine's  successors  were  no 
more  palatable  to  the  Irish  bishops  and  monks  than  his  own  had 
been  to  the  British  whom  he  met  in  conference  at  the  Oak.    They 
refused  to  surrender  their  independence  or  sacrifice  their  dignity, 
and   prospered   under   the  divine  blessing  so  gi'eatly  that  they 
brought  ISTorthumbria  and  Mercia  under  the  yoke  of  the  Gospel, 
and  even  extended  their  lines  so  far  to  the  southward  and  east- 
ward as  to  embrace  the  territory  of  the  East  Saxons.     But  the 
prestige  of  Rome  soon  proved  too  strong  for  them,  enabling  the 
Kentish  princess  whom  Oswiu,  king  of  Northumbria,  had  married, 
to  carry  her  husband  and  his  people  over  bodily  to  the  Roman 
side,  in  spite  of  the  stout  resistance  oflered  by  Colman,  the  third 
bishop  of  Lindisfarne.     Thereupon  that  dignitary,  with  many  of 
his  clergy,  retired  from  the  scene  of  his  discomfiture  into  Ireland ; 
while  others  remained  and  conformed  to  the  new  rules  and  prac- 
tices, among  whom  was  Tuda,  who  became  the  fourth  and  last  of 
the  Scottish  incumbents  of  Aidan's  see.     His  recusancy  is  par- 
tially excused  by  his  having  been  educated  in  the  south  of  Ireland, 
where  different  influences  are  said  to  have  prevailed  from  those 
which  were  dominant  in  the  north.    About  670  Archbishop  Theo- 
dore, metropolitan  of  all  England,  a  Greek  by  birth,  a  Latin  by 
preference,  a  master  of  learning,  and  an  adept  in  organizing,  the 
introducer  of  his  native  tongue,  and  the  founder  of  the  English 
diocesan  system,  a  chief  agent  in  sa\'ing  England  from  the  isola- 
tion which  has  proved  so  pernicious  to  Ireland,  and  in  binding  her 
to  European  intercourse  and  civilization,  virtually  extinguished 
the  last  remains  of  the  Northern  independence,  not,  however,  so 
totally  but  that  there  lingered  courage  to  resist  unusual  papal 
usurpations.    "Wilfrid,  bishop  of  the  Northumbrians,  having  dared 
to  appeal  to  Rome  against  a  sentence  of  deposition  and  then  re- 


344  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

turn  to  claim  his  see,  was  seized  and  thrown  into  prison  by  his 
king,  Egfrid.  A  second  appeal  against  a  second  sentence,  fol- 
lowed by  another  papal  acquittal,  failed  to  secure  his  reinstate- 
ment under  Egfrid's  successor.  Thus  early  did  the  English 
Church  begin  to  assert  its  rights ;  for  the  clergy  stood  by  their 
civil  rulers  in  this  affair. 

With  the  incursions  of  the  Danes,  came  the  necessity  for  re- 
newed efforts  at  evangelizing,  for  the  predatory  bai-ks  of  the 
Vikings  still  sailed  under  the  auspices  of  the  Yalkyrias.  King 
Alfred's  political  foresight,  as  well  as  his  religious  earnestness, 
rendered  him  very  urgent  with  those  of  the  defeated  invaders  who 
wished  to  reside  within  his  territoi-ies  that  they  should  submit  to 
being  cleansed  fi-om  the  pollutions  of  idolatry  in  the  waters  of 
holy  baptism.  A  treaty  was  effected  by  which  Guthrinn,  Alfred's 
own  godson,  was  permitted  to  govern  his  Danish  counti-}Tnen 
who  had  settled  in  East  Anglia.  Forsaking  their  roving  life, 
many  of  these  greedy  and  merciless  pirates  became  peaceable  and 
industrious  citizens,  and  established  themselves  in  colonies  wher- 
ever they  could  obtain  a  footing.  They  gradually  lost  the  man- 
nei-8  of  their  forefathers,  and  exchanged  the  wild  fobles  of  the 
Norsemen  for  the  sure  hope  of  eternal  life.  But  paganism  was 
destined  to  make  one  more  inroad  under  Sweyn  the  Fortunate, 
who  had  expelled  from  Denmark  the  clergy  whose  labors  his 
father  had  favored.  While  enriching  himself  with  the  plunder, 
and  amusing  himself  with  the  miseries,  of  the  fairest  portions  of 
England,  he  lifted  his  hand  against  the  faith  of  the  poor,  op- 
pressed people.  Nevertheless,  it  is  reported  that  a  late  repent- 
ance at  length  overtook  him,  and  caused  a  total  change  in  his 
policy.  His  son  and  successor,  the  renowned  Canute,  who  wore 
upon  his  brows  the  double  diadem  of  Denmark  and  England,  was 
not  only  a  Christian  himself,  but  did  not  cease  his  assiduous 
efforts  to  propagate  the  true  religion  till  he  had  brought  his  own 
paternal  realm  into  the  confederacy  of  Christian  states. 

When  the  consecrated  banners  of  William  the  Norman  waved 
\'ictorious  upon  the  field  of  Hastings,  Alexander  II.  perhaps  con- 
gratulated himself  upon  having  brought  another  kingdom  to  his 
feet  in  servile  submission ;  but  if  so,  he  had  sadly  mistaken  the 
character  of  the  Conqueror.  The  ancient  Anglo-Saxon  church, 
which  had  survived  all  the  Danish  invasions,  had  been  founded 
by  his  illustrious  predecessor,  and  had  inherited  from  the  Bene- 


THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  345 

dictine  monks  sentiments  of  thorougli  loyalty  and  of  profound  rev- 
erence for  the  cliair  of  St.  Peter ;  but  this  did  not  satisfy  the 
haughty  potentate,  who  had  waxed  so  mighty  in  his  self-esteem 
that  he  felt  himself  the  visible  representative  and  earthly  vice- 
gerent of  Almighty  God.  The  equally  haughty  Norman  had  no 
objection  to  any  amount  of  papal  blessing,  would  doubtless  have 
accepted  another  kingdom,  had  it  been  offered  him  at  a  similarly 
easy  price,  and  might  even  have  allowed  the  commissioner  of  the 
pope  to  sanctify  his  very  shoes,  had  the  pontiff  been  Hadrian  IV. 
and  made  him  a  gift  in  fee-simple  of  Ireland ;  but  facile  as  William 
could  be  in  such  matters,  he  was  tenacious  enough  about  retaining 
both  his  property  and  his  rights,  when  once  he  had  gained  them. 
He  was  not  the  man  to  become  voluntarily  and  unnecessarily  the 
vassal  of  any  one  :  so  when  Gregory  YII.  ventured  to  demand  not 
only  Peter-pence  but  the  performance  of  homage  to  him  as  liege- 
lord,  William  allowed  the  money  to  be  collected  as  proper  eccle- 
siastical dues,  but  gave  the  pontiff  to  understand  that  he  did  not 
consider  him  as  his  master,  and  would  not  perform  fealty  to  him. 
Notwithstanding  this  bold  refusal,  the  reign  of  William  I.  w^as 
upon  the  whole  decidedly  favorable  to  growth  of  the  papal  pre- 
tensions, both  directly  by  giving  bishops  independent  jurisdiction 
over  certain  classes  of  causes  which  had  previously  been  adjudi- 
cated by  the  earl  and  bishop  sitting  together  in  the  county  court, 
and  indirectly  by  breaking  down  the  free  institutions  of  the  Saxon 
code  and  putting  others  in  their  stead  which  promoted  the  interests 
of  tyranny.  The  Saxon  Stigand  was  obliged  to  make  room  for 
Lanfranc  as  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  the  other  prelates  were 
also  deprived,  Eome  taking  care  that  those  instituted  in  their  sees 
should  be  wholly  subservient  to  her. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  were  enacted  the  Constitutions  of 
Clarendon,  with  a  view  to  preserving  some  degree  of  independence 
among  tbe  English  clergy.  Thomas  ^  Becket,  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  interposed  a  sturdy  resistance  on  behalf  of  Rome, 
but  paid  the  penalty  of  his  misdirected  zeal  when  he  fell  a  victim 
to  royal  anger  and  courtly  sycophancy  on  the  very  steps  of  the 
altar.  The  results  of  this  horrible  deed  were  the  canonization  of 
the  martyr,  the  abolition  of  the  Constitutions  and  a  withdrawal 
of  tbe  prohibition  of  carrying  up  appeals  to  the  patriarchal  throne, 
and  a  substantial  victory  for  the  papacy. 

It  not  infrequently  happens  that  too  great  eagerness  to  im- 


346  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

prove  a  success  converts  it  into  a  defeat.  Innocent  III.  pressed 
Lard  upon  John  Lackland,  a  weak  and  worthless  ruler,  insisted 
upon  his  right  to  control  the  election  of  an  archbishop,  and  asserted 
it  by  putting  the  whole  realm  under  an  interdict.  That  a  brother 
of  the  Lion-hearted  Richard  should  have  tamely  resigned  his  crown 
into  tiie  hands  of  Pandulph,  the  papal  legate,  and  stooped  to  re- 
ceive it  from  him  again  as  a  vassal  of  the  Roman  see,  is  simply 
astounding.  No  wonder  that  the  barons  turned  away  their  eyes 
from  the  sickening  spectacle,  and  then,  under  the  leadership  of  the 
noble  archbishop,  Stephen  Langton,  and  his  brother  in  renown, 
William,  earl  of  Pembroke,  advanced  with  steady  step  towards  the 
civic  triumph  of  Runnyniede,  which  gave  England  her  Magna 
Charta,  a  document  of  hardly  less  importance  in  ecclesiastical  than 
in  secular  annals. 

The  task  of  defending  English  liberties  from  foreign  aggression 
was  one  in  which  other  church  dignitaries  besides  Langton  de- 
lighted to  share.  That  prelate  achieved  liis  great  success  in  1215, 
a  date  memorable  in  histor}'.  A  few  years  later  the  see  of  Lincoln 
•was  honored  by  a  bishop  Avho,  through  the  weight  of  his  example 
and  the  direct  influence  of  his  writings  upon  such  men  asWycliffe 
and  Huss,  perhaps  deserves  to  be  called  the  father  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. Great  as  a  scholar  and  thinker,  and  greater  yet  as  one  who 
did  not  flinch  from  speaking  out  at  the  biddings  of  conscience,  even 
when  his  utterances  were  sure  to  be  distasteful  both  to  the  general 
laxity  of  the  age  and  also  to  the  insolence  of  autocratic  power, 
Robert  Grosseteste  rebuked  the  vices  of  his  times,  and  disregarded 
the  excomnumication  of  Innocent  lY. 

The  succeeding  century  gave  birth  to  a  man  well-worthy  to 
follow  in  the  footsteps  of  Robert  "  Greathead."  Master  of  aU  the 
learning  of  his  time,  and  particularly  strong  in  biblical  knowledge, 
John  Wycliife  soon  discovered  how  far  in  many  respects  the  re- 
ceived theology  had  strayed  from  catholic  truth ;  and,  being  an 
earnest,  religious,  high-souled  man,  felt  his  spirit  burn  with  right- 
eous indignation  at  sight  of  the  hollowness  of  clerical  zeal  and 
piety,  the  prevailing  wickedness  of  the  commonalty,  and  the  op- 
pressive practices  of  those  in  authority.  He  began  by  vehemently 
denouncing  the  vicious  and  luxurious  lives  of  the  clergy,  then 
opened  a  sustained  Are  upon  the  papal  militia,  the  ubiquitous, 
intrusive,  and  meddlesome  friars,  and  finally  (a  diplomatic  visit 
to  Bruges  which  brought  him  into   close   intercourse  with  the 


TEE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  347 

nuncios  of  the  pope  having  produced  on  him  a  similar  effect  to 
that  which  was  afterwards  wrought  upon  Luther  by  a  short  so- 
journ in  the  metropohs  of  Christendom),  turned  his  heavily- 
shotted  guns  full  upon  the  papacy  itself.  Not  content  with  these 
achievements,  he  gave  the  English  people  the  Bible  translated 
into  their  own  tongue,  earnestly  exhorting  them  to  read  it,  and 
even  exposed  the  gross  error  of  transubstantiation.  It  was  with 
difficulty  that  he  escaped  from  the  bitter  mahce  of  the  numerous 
and  powerful  enemies  whom  he  created  for  himself  by  assailing 
wrong  as  every  soldier  of  Christ  is  bound  to  do,  and  especially  by 
reviving  the  hated  opinions  which  had  almost  made  a  martyr  of 
Berengarius.  However,  he  died  peacefully  on  the  last  day  of  the 
year  1384  at  his  benefice  of  Lutterworth,  to  which  he  had  been 
presented  by  Edward  IIL  ;  a  fate  which  possibly  would  never 
have  been  his  had  not  attention  been  diverted  from  his  agitations 
by  the  Great  Schism  which  began  with  the  death  of  Gregory  XL 
The  insurrection  of  Wat  Tyler,  on  the  other  hand,  might  easily 
have  proved  fatal  to  him,  as  it  would  have  been  only  natural  for 
the  government  to  have  taken  the  same  view  which  has  since  been 
adopted  by  the  learned  and  judicious  Hallam,  of  his  having  been 
partially  responsible  for  that  tremendous  movement.  His  opinions 
survived,  not  only  in  the  sect  of  the  Lollards,  but  as  a  leaven  work- 
ing throughout  the  Latin  church  and  hastening  the  period  of  eman- 
cipation from  spiritual  thralldom.  To  him,  it  may  be,  the  Conti- 
nental Reformers  owed  at  least  as  much  as  the  English  Church  was 
ever  indebted  to  Luther  or  Calvin. 

Throwing  now  a  retrospective  glance  over  the  history  of  the 
English  Church  from  its  foundation  to  the  time  of  its  severance 
from  Rome,  we  are  sensible  of  a  deficiency  in  our  proof.  It  is 
one  thing  to  protest  against  encroachments,  and  another,  and 
often  a  very  much  harder,  thing  to  ward  them  off.  That  bold  spirits 
were  found  among  the  descendants  of  Hengist  and  Horsa,  of 
Alfred,  Harold,  and  William,  to  lift  their  voices  in  denunciation 
of  tyranny,  redounds  greatly  to  the  glory  of  the  country  that  gave 
them  birth.  But  in  order  to  persuade  ourselves  that  they  suc- 
ceeded in  maintaining  the  independence  of  the  insular  church, 
we  would  be  compelled  to  forget  not  a  little  which,  however  un- 
pleasant to  recall,  we  yet  all  too  well  know  to  be  matter  of  fiict. 
The  English,  it  is  true,  contended  against  the  wretched  practice 
of  conferring  benefices  upon  non-resident  foreigners ;  but  did  they 


348  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

prevent  its  continuance?  Thev  struggled  bravely  against  the 
equally  objectionable  custom  of  transferring  causes  to  the  papal 
court :  did  their  threats  of  inflicting  the  jjains  and  penalties  of  a 
'proBmunire^  or  of  being  proclaimed  an  outlaw,  deter  condemned 
ecclesiastics  from  appealing  to  an  extraneous  tribunal  ?  However 
gallant  was  the  resistance  offered  by  the  Throne,  Peers,  Conmions, 
or  Church  of  England,  their  efforts  fell  far  short  of  such  achieve- 
ments. If  the  English  Church  was  not  part  and  parcel  of  the 
great  Latin  Church,  bound  up  with  the  others  by  those  various 
ties  which  consolidate  different  national  communions  into  one  great 
cor|Jorate  body,  we  might  despair  of  being  able  to  point  out  any, 
except  the  Italian,  that  was  a  portion  of  it.  Look  at  France, 
with  her  "Galilean  Liberties"  fenced  in  by  the  Pragmatic  Sanc- 
tion of  St.  Louis  (IX.) !  See  Charles  YII.  replacing  this  docu- 
ment with  another  which  was  even  more  pronounced  in  its  asser- 
tion of  national  rights,  and  then  Philip  the  Fair  dispatching  the 
able  lawyer,  AVilliam  de  Nogaret,  to  seize  that  ambitious  and 
powerful  pontiff,  Boniface  VIIL,  and  bring  him  prisoner  to 
France !  And,  shocking  to  relate !  behold  the  iron  gauntlet  of 
the  lawyer  smite  heavily  upon  that  proud  head !  Was  France, 
which  set  up,  and  thrust  down,  the  puppet-popes  of  Avignon,  a 
part  of  the  Romish  church,  and  was  not  England,  which  would 
have  cut  off  her  right  hand  rather  than  have  so  dishonored  the 
Apostolic  See  ? 

The  Church  of  England  has  little  reason  to  be  proud  of  the 
monarch  whose  hand  broke  the  fetters  that  had  so  long  chafed  her ; 
for  a  man  who  does  not  hesitate  to  murder  a  wife  by  judicial 
process  as  soon  as  he  desires  to  be  rid  of  her,  may  be  a  learned, 
and  able,  and  popular  sovereign,  but  must  remain,  for  all  time,  in 
the  eyes  of  Christian  people,  a  monster  of  iniquity.  That  the 
utmost  inorenuitv  of  the  most  skillful  historian  will  ever  succeed 
in  erasing  the  stain  of  such  an  atrocious  fact  from  the  biography 
of  Henry  VIII.,  it  can  hardly  be  presumptuous  to  doubt.  It 
must  also  be  clear  to  the  reflective  mind,  that  labored  attempts  to 
whitewash  his  character  onh'  rebound  against  the  church  in  whose 
interest  they  seem  to  be  made,  and  injure  her  reputation  l)y  giving 
color  to  the  strange  and  utterly  unfounded  notion,  that  it  is  a 
matter  of  very  great  concern  to  her  that  his  escutcheon  should  be 
untarnished.  "What  was  Henry  VIIL  to  her  more  than  any  other 
monarch  ?     If  God  is  mercifully  pleased  to  overrule  the  bad  pas- 


THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH  349 

sions  of  evil  men  so  as  to  make  tliem  subserve  His  own  divine  pur- 
poses, what  is  that  to  us  ?  Henry  neither  made,  nor  undertook  to 
make,  tlie  reformed  Church  of  England ;  he  quarreled  with  Rome 
and  compelled  his  realm  to  unite  with  him  in  the  quarrel :  that 
was  all.  Thus  the  wickedness  of  the  king  measured  itself  against 
the  wickedness  of  religious  usurpation,  the  contention  enabling 
the  down-trodden  Church  to  take  one  long  stride  towards  freedom. 
Out  of  evil  came  good.  Shall  we  sa}'  that  good  so  derived  is  not 
good  ?  We  are  forbidden  to  do  evil  in  order  that  good  may  come, 
but  not  to  obtain  what  benefit  we  can  from  evil  that  is  unavoid- 
able. Henry  arrogated  to  himself  a  very  high-sounding  title  as 
earthly  head  of  the  church,  and  the  two  convocations  were  forced 
to  concede  much  of  his  claim ;  but  we  cannot  think  that  the 
divine  favor  was  forever  forfeited  by  recognizing  the  civil  ruler  as 
'•  Head  of  the  Church  and  Clergy,  so  far  as  the  law  of  Chi'ist  will 
allow ; "  which  was  the  utmost  that  could  be  extorted  from  the  two 
Houses, 

We  need  not,  however,  conceal  our  regret  that  such  a  conces- 
sion was  ever  made.  It  was  a  pity  to  take  up  a  fresh  yoke  the 
moment  the  old  one  was  discarded.  Yet  the  yoke  was  only 
nominally  a  new  one,  for  ever  since  Constantino  the  churches 
everywhere  had  borne  it  upon  their  necks.  The  great  defect  of 
the  Anglican  Reformation  was  its  Erastianism.  That  ecclesiastical 
causes  should  be  tried  before  judges,  who  may  be  devout  church- 
men, but  may  also  be  anything  else;  that  bishops  should  be 
elected  and  consecrated  at  the  imperious  dictation  of  a  prime 
minister ;  and  that  laws  should  be  made  for  the  government  of 
religious  affairs  in  a  parliament  that  may  be  largely  composed  of 
Jews,  Turks,  Infidels,  and  Heretics,  is  surely  not  the  condition  in 
which  the  Master  intended  that  His  kingdom  should  exist. 
Though  the  life  of  the  Church  is  not  destroyed  at  once  and  inevi- 
tably by  falling  into  such  bondage,  it  must  be  impaired  and  seri- 
ously imperiled. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  it  was  not  even  conceived  possible 
that  a  religious  organization  could  preserve  an  independent,  and 
yet  friendly,  attitude  towards  the  civil  government.  Two  inher- 
ently antagonistic  conceptions  had  the  ground  all  to  themselves, 
the  one  that  the  State  has  the  right  to  control  the  Church,  the 
other  precisely  the  reverse  of  this.  The  latter  was  the  grand 
papal  theory  of  Hildebrand,  and  was   slowly  fighting   its  way 


350  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

towards  absolute  dominion  over  the  minds  of  all  zealous  clmrch- 
men.     The  only  theory  which  was  strong  enough  to  dispute  pos- 
session of  the  field  was  the  one  so  attractive  to  monarchs  who 
were  striving  with  all  their  might,  and  with  all  the  resources  of 
political  scheming,  to  erect  permanent  and  magnificent  kingdoms 
upon  the  ruins  of  the  overgrown  baronies  which,  in  feudal  times, 
set  at  naught  the  authority  of  sovereigns  and  did  not  hesitate 
to  meet  them  with  hostile  arms.     Out  of  the  clashing  of  rival 
theories  was  gradually  being  evolved  greater  freedom  of  thought 
and  liberty  of  action.     In  England,  at  least,  were  slowly  growing 
up  institutions  and  laws,  which  would  presently  transfer  the  control 
of  public  affairs  from  the  hands  of  a  few  to  those  of  the  great  mass 
of  the  nation,  and  protect  the  humblest  citizen  from  the  insolence 
and  oppression  of  the  most  powerful.     During  the  centuries  be- 
tween the  Conquest  and  the  Reformation,  the  Commons  of  England 
were  fighting  their  way  inch  by  inch  into  importance  and  power; 
the  noble  system  of  the  Common  Law,  the  condensed  common- 
sense  of  generations,  codified  by  many  of  the  best,  purest,  and 
most  practical  minds  that  any  bar  ever  boasted,  was  gi-adually 
being  perfected  ;   and  the  great  heart  of  the  people  was  being 
trained  into  a  due  sense  of  the  value  of  civil  liberty.     Hardly  any 
reign  was  less  favorable  to  the  deN'elopmcnt  of  free  institutions 
than  that  of  the  mighty  tyrant  who  made  his  power  felt  in  a 
Europe   that  was   being   converted  into   a   theatre  upon   which 
might  be  displayed  the  prowess  of  such  giants  as  Charles  Y.  and 
Francis  I.     Ilenry  YIII.  set  his  foot  upon  the  neck  of  prostrate 
England,  and  held  his  sceptre  in  a  grasp  of  iron;  and  yet  Ilenry 
dared  not  to  break  the  laws.     He   might   override   them   most 
execrably,  he  might  threaten  judges  and  bully  parliaments,  but 
the  dictates  of  his  selfish  and  willful  heart  had  to  get  themselves 
executed  in  some  way  that  recognized  the  formal  validity  of  the 
statute-book.     The  popular  movement  slowly  went  on.     A  suc- 
cession of  Henries  would  either  have  crushed  out  its  life  or  stung 
it  into  such  madness  that  the  throne  would  have  been  cast  prema- 
turely down ;  but  father  and  daughter,  even  though  that  daughter 
was  the  patroness  of  Essex,  foiled  to  do  more  than  temporarily 
check  its  advance.     Slowly  reviving  under  the  Stuarts,  the  Spirit 
of  Liberty  struggled   hopefully   on   through   the   Rebellion    and 
the   Restoration,  welcomed   the   Revolution,  and   despaired  not 
through  a  long  period  of  official  corruption,  till  at  last  she  saw 


THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  351 

herself  enthroned  far  above  the  nominal  seat  of  the  house  of 
Hanover. 

Is  it  to  he  supposed  that  liberal  thought  conscientiously  ab- 
stained from  intruding  upon  the  territories  of  religion  ?  If 
Henry's  utmost  strength  could  not  overthrow  the  bulwarks  of 
civil  liberty,  could  he  have  seriously  retarded  the  progress  of 
ecclesiastical  reform  ?  How  strange  a  notion  is  that  so  commonly 
entertained,  that  a  single  resolute  mind  can  mould  a  nation  and  an 
age !  Had  England  not  been  ready  for  a  breach  with  Rome, 
what  would  have  come  of  Henry's  action,  any  more  than  of  any 
one  of  the  numerous  quarrels  in  which  the  Pope  had  been  en- 
gaged with  almost  every  portion  of  the  vast  realm  over  which  he 
claimed  paramount  jurisdiction  ?  If  Henry  made  the  Church  of 
England,  surely  Mary  unmade  it  in  her  turn ;  so  that  it  arose 
afresh  under  Elizabeth,  and  may  trace  its  pedigree  fi-om  her.  Say 
that  Henry  had  continued  in  the  course  he  was  smoothly  pursu- 
ing when  he  won  for  himself  from  the  Pope  the  proud  title  of 
Defender  of  the  Faith,  in  reward  for  a  book  which  he  composed 
in  support  of  the  Romish  sacramental  doctrine ;  and  had  bent  all 
his  tremendous  energies  towards  the  suppression  of  every  symptom 
of  revolt  from  papal  domination  which  might  show  itself  among 
his  trembling  subjects ;  does  any  one  believe  that,  even  under  such 
adverse  circumstances,  the  plant  of  religious  independence  would 
never  have  taken  root  in  the  insular  soil  ? 

As  it  was,  did  not  Henry  rather  delay,  than  hasten,  the  work 
of  reform  ?  Was  not,  for  example,  his  tyrannical  enforcement  of 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  even  more  injurious  to  the 
church  than  his  denial  of  the  pope's  supremacy  was  beneficial? 
Did  not  his  arbitrary  measures  sow  seeds  of  contention  among  the 
different  parties  into  which  churchmen  soon  banded  themselves, 
that  a  gentler  and  wiser  hand  would  never  have  scattered  ?  Must 
not  incalculable  evil  have  resulted  from  the  needless  controversies 
and  strifes  into  which  Cranmer  and  Gardiner  led  their  eager  par- 
tisans, and  for  what  did  they  really  fight  but  for  the  favor  of  their 
terrible  sovereign  ?  It  certainly  cannot  be,  by  any  means,  sure 
that,  had  matters  been  allowed  to  drift  quietly  along  in  their  natural 
channels,  without  the  interference  of  the  King,  the  Church  through- 
out the  extent  of  England  would  not  presently  have  attained  a 
condition  of  more  perfect  reform  than  it  has  yet  reached,  and  that 
too  with  less  delay  than  marked  the  progress  it  did  make.     If  it 


352  TEE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

be  objected  tbat  all  this  is  mere  conjecture,  we  reply  that  con- 
jecture on  one  side  is  as  good  and  permissible  as  on  the  other. 

In  defense  of  Henry's  conduct  two  considerations  may  prop- 
erly be  urged.  In  the  first  place,  having  been  carefully  trained  in 
a  school  of  which  his  disposition  fitted  him  to  be  an  apt  scholar, 
and  having  learned  to  exercise  his  ingenuity  in  discovering  argu- 
ments on  both  sides  of  every  question  ;  having  been  nurtured  in  a 
profound  reverence  for  law,  and  yet  taught  to  treat  the  most 
solemn  enactments  as  plastic  material  to  be  moulded  by  his  dia- 
lectical skill,  the  royal  Tudor,  although  he  might  play  havoc  with 
the  spirit  of  human  or  divine  law,  was  watchful  not  to  transgress 
the  letter,  according,  at  least,  to  his  own  interpretation  of  it; 
entertaining  an  implicit  confidence  that  he  would  be  permitted  to 
entrench  himself  behind  the  logic  of  the  schools,  even  when  sum- 
moned before  the  Last  Tribunal.  In  many  ways  was  this  pecu- 
liarity manifested.  Those  whom  he  designed  to  punish  were  con- 
victed according  to  due  legal  form,  instead  of  being  privately  as- 
sassinated or  publicly  executed  by  royal  mandate  alone.  If  it  be 
greatly  to  the  credit  of  English  public  sentiment  that  the  tyrant 
was  obliged  to  observe  the  forms  of  law,  is  it  not  equally  to  the 
praise  of  English  morality  that  he  thought  it  necessary  to  trouble 
himself  about  ceremonies  of  another  sort  ?  If  the  king  was  merely 
the  licentious  brute  that  many  would  paint  him,  it  is  at  least  de- 
serving of  passing  notice  that  he  thought  it  worth  his  while  to 
remove  one  woman  out  of  the  way  before  he  took  another.  Was 
the  immaculate  virtue  of  the  palace  so  astonishingly  lynx-eyed 
that  no  less  troublesome  path  was  open  to  the  wandering  of  royal 
inclinations?  A  hint  at  least  concerning  marriages  of  conven- 
ience might  have  reached  him  from  across  the  Channel. 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  affirm  positively 
that  the  monarch  of  England  had  the  right  upon  his  side  in  the 
dispute  which  led  to  the  breaking  out  of  hostilities.  The  question 
was  one  which  involved  the  title  to  the  succession.  The  misery 
and  carnage  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses  had  only  lately  been  ended, 
to  the  great  relief  of  all  parties,  by  the  famous  victory  of  Bos- 
worth  field.  Was  the  land  once  more  to  be  deluged  with  its  own 
blood,  because  "  courageous  Richmond  "  had  been  too  solicitous 
to  strengthen  his  throne  by  the  continuation  of  an  alliance  with 
the  royal  family  of  Spain  ?  Catharine  of  Aragon  was  the  lawful 
wife  of  Arthur,  prince  of  Wales,  the  eldest  son  of  Henry  YII. 


THE  ENGLISH  CHURCE.  353 

What  right,  then,  had  she  to  be  joined,  upon  the  death  of  her 
husband,  in  holj  matrimony  with  liis  younger  brother  ?  None 
whatever  according  to  the  Laws  of  England,  the  Canon  Law,  and, 
not  impossibly,  the  Law  of  God.  Nevertheless,  a  papal  dispensa- 
tion was  obtained  from  Julius  II.  permitting  tlie  marriage  to  take 
place,  and  it  was  solemnized  accordingly.  Such  a  connection  was 
void  ah  initio,  and  must  always  have  been  considered  so  by  sound 
theologians.  Was  the  pope  indeed  able  to  abrogate  the  divine 
law  ?  The  shortest-sighted  must  have  foreseen  the  strong  proba- 
bility that  the  reign  of  the  daughter  bom  of  this  union  would  be 
an  extremely  troubled  one.  Was  it  not  an  age  rife  with  commo- 
tions, and  in  which  pretenders  were  ready  to  start  up  at  the  brief- 
est notice?  Would  not  such  a  flaw  in  the  title  breed  pretenders? 
Warham,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  had  opposed  the  marriage 
from  the  first.  The  universities  of  Cambridge  and  Oxford,  and  a 
larsre  number  of  foreii!;n  universities  which  had  been  consulted  at 
the  suggestion  of  Cranmer,  pronounced  it  invalid ;  as  did  many 
distinguished  individuals,  among  whom  were  CEcolampadius  and 
John  Calvin.  It  is  impossible,  therefore,  to  evade  the  admission 
that  Henry's  side  was  a  very  strong  one,  and  that  regard  for  the 
peace  of  liis  posterity,  the  welfare  of  his  country,  and  the  honor 
of  himself  and  his  ftimily,  would  have  impelled  the  most  righteous 
and  prudent  sovereign  to  prosecute  the  inquiry  to  a  definite 
and  final  issue,  if  such  could  by  any  possibility  be  reached.  Had 
Catherine  only  been  young,  beautiful,  attractive,  and  as  fondly 
beloved  as  Anne  Boleyn,  our  sympathies  would  doubtless  have 
been  powerfully  called  forth  for  the  young  and  ardent  lover  who, 
through  no  fault  of  his  own,  had  found  himself  wedded  to  his 
brother's  widow,  and  obliged  to  move  high  and  low,  far  and  near, 
in  order  to  satisfs^  himself  that  he  had  a  wife  and  not  a  mistress. 
And  why  should  not  our  pity,  at  least,  be  granted  Henry  even 
under  all  the  circumstances  ?  If  we  picture  to  ourselves  that  mag- 
nificent Prince  in  the  glory  of  his  youth,  matchless  for  strength 
and  beauty,  must  we  not  feel  that  when  his  heart  had  been  laid 
on  the  altar  of  state  policy,  a  sacrifice  had  been  made  not  less 
than  that  which  the  virgins  were  accustomed  to  lament  yearly 
upon  the  mountains  of  Israel. 

There  is  a  busy  and  exciting  scene  which  can  be  witnessed  on 
any  of  the  great  rivers  used  as  highways  for  the  transportation  of 
timber.     Somewhere  in  the  middle  of  the  stream  is  piled  a  huge 


35J:  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

heap  of  logs,  flung  together  in  the  wildest  confusion,  and  offering 
to  the  mad  rush  of  waters  an  unaccustomed  impediment,  against 
which  they  hurl  themselves  with  fury,  boiling  and  surging  as  they 
fall  back  and  then  sweep  past.  The  insecure  island,  shivering 
now  and  again  beneath  the  blows  which  are  dealt  it,  swarms  with 
hardy  river-men  clad  in  bright-colored  flannel  garments,  dextrous 
in  wielding:  the  axe  and  cant-do^r.  Immense  tnmks  roll  over  and 
over  in  response  to  well-directed  efforts,  plunge  into  the  current, 
and  are  borne  away.  Logs  which  are  so  tightly  held  that  they 
cannot  be  disengaged,  snap  and  crack  under  the  shaq^-edged  axe. 
All  the  labor  seems  in  vain,  for  the  other  logs  which  are  perpetu- 
ally floating  down  from  ai)ove  add  to  one  side  of  the  "j^awi"  as 
fast  as  the  other  is  diminished.  Hours  may  be  thus  spent,  no 
visible  progress  having  been  made,  when  suddenly  every  shirt, 
red  or  blue,  will  be  seen  springing  with  all  possible  speed  towards 
the  ready  bateaux,  like  quarry-men  running  from  a  blast.  "Woe 
to  him  who  is  a  moment  too  late !  The  largest  trees  lift  them- 
selves with  butt  in  air,  stand  an  instant  perpendicular,  and  then 
topple  over,  fallmg  with  a  noise  like  distant  thunder ;  and  the 
whole  mass,  slowly  getting  under  headway,  yields  to  the  pent-up 
current,  and  goes  on  sporting  in  its  wild  merriment  towards  the 
next  obstruction.  When  the  right  log  had  been  dislodged, — the 
one  single  log  which,  having  first  caught  upon  some  projecting 
rock,  had  formed  the  nucleus  around,  beneath,  and  over  which 
innumerable  others  had  collected, — every  river-man  knew  that  it 
was  time  to  leave  the  trembling  mass.  This  is  a  parable.  In 
Media?val  times  there  was  one  grand  obstruction  which  interposed 
itself  Mhenever  agitation  was  made  for  reform.  Were  objections 
urged,  against  superstitious  phraseology  which  had  crept  into  the 
liturgy,  or  idolatrous  practices  which  had  fastened  themselves  upon 
the  ritual,  these  must  not  be  altered  without  permission  from 
Rome.  Were  charges  preferred  against  the  clergj',  of  conduct 
inconsistent  with  the  discharge  of  their  sacred  functions,  the  regis 
of  Rome  was  extended  over  them.  Were  petitions  presented  by 
those  who  suffered  fi'om  exactions  or  felt  themselves  aggrieved  by 
the  withholding  of  their  rights  and  privileges,  they  must  not  be 
granted  till  the  pope  had  approved  them.  Did  some  independent 
thinker  desire  to  examine  any  mooted  point  of  divinity  upon  its 
merits,  let  him  beware  that  he  did  not  seem  to  question  the  cor- 
rectness of  any  papal  utterance  with  regard  to  it !     The  one  log 


THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  355 

upon  wMch  the  entire  mass  rested  was  that  of  the  Papal  Supremacy. 
When  the  random  blows  of  Henry  had  shaken  that  loose,  the 
whole  pile  of  abuses,  errors,  and  corruptions  began  to  move  off. 
The  breaking  oi  jams  is  often  a  very  dangerous  business.  So 
many  of  the  prime  movers  hi  reforming  the  English  Church  found 
their  undertaking,  and  not  a  few  of  them  were  almost  literally 
broken  and  crushed  by  the  tossing  and  grinding  mass ;  but  that 
mass,  once  started  by  the  removal  of  the  original  obstruction, 
could  hardly  choose  but  break  up  and  be  carried  away. 

It  was  as  though  in  Henry's  reign  a  sudden  recession  of  the 
the  waters  revealed  the  hidden  impediment  with  unusual  clearness. 
The  dispute  was  not  an  ordinaiy  one  between  King  and  Pope, 
which  must  of  course  involve  a  strong  tendency  to  dispute  the 
latter's  claims,  but  it  was  of  such  a  nature  that  the  very  point  at 
issue  vitally  affected  the  Poman  position,  the  question  being, 
Can  the  Pope  annul  the  canon  law  so  as  to  sanction  an  incestuous 
marriage  ?  Instead  of  taking  a  firm,  bold  stand,  as  the  occasion 
demanded,  Clement  YII.  practiced  the  wiles  of  state-craft,  and 
thereby  complicated  matters  exceedingly.  To  have  distinctly 
refused  to  hear  anything  impugning  the  course  of  his  predecessor, 
who  had  officially  approved  the  marriage,  would  have  given 
Clement  strength  with  that  party  which  looked  with  disappro- 
bation upon  what  they  deemed  the  criminal  levity  of  a  young 
libertine ;  but  to  vacillate  between  a  desire  to  conciliate  Henry 
and  the  fear  of  offending  Charles,  was  to  show  plainly  of  how 
little  real  value  in  determining  important  questions  was  that  ex- 
pensive, arrogant,  and  boastful  hierarch,  the  pretended  successor 
of  St.  Peter,  and  consequently  to  pave  the  way  for  throwing  off 
bis  yoke.  While  Clement  was  dallying,  Henry  was  winning  over 
public  sentiment  to  his  side,  inducing  members  of  parliament  to 
sign  that  extraordinary  petition  in  which  they  affirm  the  justice 
of  the  king's  cause  and  demand,  almost  with  peremptoriness,  a 
favorable  decision,  and  generally  influencing  his  realm  against  the 
dilatory  and  time-serving  prince  of  the  Yatican. 

The  great  barrier  was  at  last  thrown  down  and  men's  minds 
allowed  to  revert  to  genuine  catholicity.  What  a  deliverance  was 
this !  A  sad  period  was  it  in  church  history  during  which  the 
fountain  of  truth  was  walled  up  and  fast  locked  from  the  inquirer, 
and  all  men  were  obliged  to  quench  their  thirst  at  the  turbid  and 
unwholesome  stream  of  garbled  doctrine.     A  blessed  thing  it  was, 


356  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

too,  for  the  English  Church,  that  her  taste  had  not  become  so  per- 
verted by  long  deprivation  of  pure  water,  that  she  preferred  to 
hew  out  cisterns  into  which  she  might  turn  the  filtered  current, 
rather  than  to  imbibe  the  liquid  crystal  that  flowed  through  the 
appointed  channels.  Fortunately,  her  appetite  was  not  seriously 
vitiated.  She  showed  how  deep  still  was  her  love  for  the  Divine 
Teacher  by  returning  at  once,  the  road  having  been  opened,  to 
His  own  blessed  instructions,  as  given  to  the  saints  of  the  Early 
Church,  and  by  them  taught,  both  orally  and  by  writing,  to  those 
that  followed  them.  She  had  no  desire  to  build  up  systems  of 
her  own,  into  which  she  need  incorporate  only  such  views  of  truth 
as  pleased  her ;  nor  did  she  display  that  overweening  confidence  in 
herself  which  often  prompts  the  intellect  to  evolve  doctrine  out  of 
its  own  inner  consciousness;  but  was  glad  to  receive  doctrine  and 
doirma  from  the  hands  to  which  Christ  Himself  had  entrusted  them. 
Reverence  for  Antiqxiity  has  always  been  the  crowning  glory  of 
the  reformed  Church  of  England,  her  great  safeguard,  and  the 
distinguishing  feature  of  her  divines.  And  why  are  these  always 
ransacking  the  treasures  of  the  Early  Church  ?  Was  it  because 
they  were  deficient  in  learning,  in  acuteness,  or  in  independence 
of  mind  ?  Had  Pearson  insufficient  knowledge  ?  "Was  Hooker  a 
feeble-minded  person  ?  Did  Bull  lack  vigor  and  abihty  ?  Or  was 
Dr.  "SYaterland  unskilled  in  handling  the  weapons  of  debate? 
Nay,  but  tlicsc  divines,  these  erudite,  deeply  pious,  courageous, 
original,  and  profound  leaders  of  the  Anglican  Connnunion,  had 
wisdom  and  humility  enough  to  see  that  the  witness  of  God's 
Church  is  a  surer  guide  than  any  othei". 

The  way  in  which  the  rejection  and  denial  of  the  Pope's  Su- 
premacy produced  a  reform  of  doctrine,  can  be  most  properly 
illustrated  by  referring  to  the  case  of  Transubstantiation,  the 
greatest  and  most  glaring  of  all  the  errors  under  which  Latin 
Christendom  lay  groaning  at  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. For  years  after  Henry  had  cast  loose  from  the  Church  of 
Kome,  this  tenet  continued  to  be  held  as  firmly  by  the  English 
Church  as  by  the  most  violent  Ultramontane.  From  Henry  and 
Cranmer  down  to  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Christian  ai-my,  all  men 
marched  under  this  banner.  If  there  did  soon  spring  up  a  sect  of 
sacramentarians  who  disputed  the  corporal  presence  of  Christ  in 
the  Eucharist,  Lambert  discovered  to  his  sorrow  that  it  was  not 
safe  to  advocate  such  a  theoiy  openly,  for,  after  a  learned  discus- 


TEE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  357 

sion  before  the  King,  in  which  Cranmer  himself  participated,  the 
unflinching  disputant,  silenced  but  not  convinced,  was  burnt  under 
circumstances  of  peculiar  barbarity.     This  disgraceful  occurrence 
took  place  several  years  after  the  yoke  of  Home  had  been  cast  off, 
but  before  the  leaven  of  free  inquiry  had  had  time  to  work  upon 
men's  minds.     Twelve  years  more  were  destined  to  elapse  while 
the  pious,  learned,  and  moderate  archbishop  of  Canterbury  should 
be  advancing  through  the  stages  necessary  to  be  gone  over  in  purg- 
ing his  creed  from  the  sacramental  follies  of  the  Lateran  council. 
In  the  meanwhile,  there  had  arisen  in  the  person  of  the  bishop  of 
Rochester,  Nicholas  Ridley,  the  ablest  theologian  that  had  yet 
appeared  upon  the  scene,  who,  by  diligent  study  of  Holy  Scripture 
and  careful  perusal  of  the  early  Fathers,  had  reached  a  clear  and 
definite  conclusion,  which    he  possessed  both  courage  and  skill 
enough  to  maintain  against  all  comers.     His  influence  over  Arch- 
bishop Cranmer  was  that  of  a  strong  and  resolute  will  upon  a 
vacillating  one,  and  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that,  in  this  matter, 
he  led  the  way  for  his  weaker  and  less  original  coadjutor.     While 
Bishop  Ridley  can  hardly  lay  claim  to  the  credit  of  having  discov- 
ered the  true  view  of  the  Eucharistical  Presence  which  had  been 
hidden  behind  the  veil  of  Mediaeval  superstition,  there  may  be 
conceded  him  the  high  praise  of  having  newly  discovered,  and 
dared  to  reassert,  the  hated  doctrine,  which  had  so  nearly  proved 
fatal  when  preached  by  Wycliffe  in  an  age  not  yet  ripe  for  revolt 
from  papal  domination.     As  long  as  that  authority  upheld  the 
decrees  of  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council  and  the  numerous  rescripts 
and  bulls  which  favored  the  same  view  of  the  Eucharist  as  that 
which  it  promulgated,  how  was  it  possible  to  refute  that  doctrine 
publicly  and  yet  remain   in  communion   with  Rome?     In  the 
privacy  of  his  heart,  in  the  bosom  of  his  family,  amid  a  small  and 
select  circle  of  friends,  or  even  in  the  seclusion  of  an  obscure  parish, 
a  man  might  treat  the  V^atican  decree  as  invalid,  and  the  dream  of 
a  material  change  as  a  figment,  without  being  impelled  by  his 
conscience  to  break  off  his  connection  with  a  church  which  was 
really  catholic,  notwithstanding  her  fault ;  but  let  him  not  force 
his  unwelcome  tenets  upon  public  notice  unless  he  wished   to 
awake  the  impatient  thunders  of  the  new  Jove !     Independent 
indeed  must  also  have  been  the  mind  which,  under  such  adverse 
influences  and  amid  such  heavy  discouragements,  could  undertake 
the  task  of  original  research.     Little  enough  was  there  to  tempt 


358  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

oue  from  the  safe  and  easy  paths  of  deference  and  slavery  into 
those  harder  ones  of  free  inquiry.  But  when  once  the  great  bar- 
rier of  absolute  papal  authority  had  been  crushed  beneath  the 
iconoclastic  hammer  of  England's  angry  monarch,  the  first  keen 
eye  which  swept  along  the  right  line  of  investigation  with  search- 
ing glance  was  sure  to  see  that,  if  transubstantiation  was  to  de- 
pend upon  the  countenance  of  Scripture  and  primitive  testimony 
for  its  foundation,  it  must  be  content  to  vanish  into  thin  air  with 
the  baseless  fabric  of  many  another  dream.  The  eagle  eye  of 
Nicholas  Eidley  caught  sight  of  the  real  cloud-base,  and  dilated 
with  prophetic  joy  as  it  beheld  even  that  dissolving  into  nothing- 
ness. The  bishop  pointed  out  what  he  saw  to  the  slower  vision  of 
his  illustrious  superior,  and  the  twain,  together  with  that  untamed, 
but  heroic,  spirit,  Hugh  Latimer,  bishop  of  Worcester,  represented 
it  to  the  church  at  large,  and  with  such  good  effect  that  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  YI.  all  signs  of  adherence  to  transubstantiation 
at  last  disappeared  from  the  liturgical  and  doctrinal  formularies 
of  the  Enjxlish  Church. 

Along  with  this  great  leading  false  doctrine  fell  many  another, 
never  to  rise  again  except  during  the  few  years  that  the  sceptre 
was  held  by  that  unfortunate  daughter  of  Catherine  who,  looking 
instinctively  towards  her  mother's  native  land  for  support  to  her 
own  tottering  throne  and  unpopular  religion,  gave  her  hand  to 
that  strantre  bigot  whose  name  will  ever  be  linked  with  execrations 
as  that  of  the  oppressor  of  the  Netherlands,  and  with  ridicule  as 
that  of  the  author  of  the  "  Invincible  Armada."  It  was  a  short- 
lived triumph  that  Romanism  enjoyed  under  "Bloody  Mary." 
The  doctrines  of  purgatory,  the  worship  of  saints,  images,  and  the 
Yirgin,  auricular  confession,  priestly  absolution,  indulgences,  and 
penance,  as  well  as  those  of  transubstantiation  and  the  pope's 
supremacy,  prevailed  from  the  death  of  Jane  Seymour's  son  till 
Cardinal  Pole  and  his  royal  mistress  dropped  almost  simultane- 
ously the  sceptres  of  Canterbury  and  of  England ;  but  they  had 
been  gradually  eliminated  from  the  standards  of  the  church  dur- 
ing the  two  preceding  reigns,  and  were  to  be  finally  ejected  as 
soon  as  the  vain,  though  able,  daughter  of  Anne  Boleyn  should  feel 
herself  securely  seated  upon  her  father's  throne. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  concerning  the  influence  of 
the  Continental  Reformers  upon  the  contemporary  movement  in 
England.      While  Henry's  iron  hand  guided  the  helm  of  state, 


THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  359 

overtures  were  made  to  him  by  the  Protestant  Princes  of  Ger- 
many to  join  the  Smalcaldic  League  on  the  basis  of  the  Augsburg- 
Confession.  Melancthon  was  consulted  by  the  English  leaders ; 
he  was  invited  to  visit  the  country.  Bucer,  Peter  Martyr,  and 
many  others  transplanted  their  doctrines  into  the  kingdom  ;  while 
Jewel,  Cox,  Coverdale,  Knox,  and  a  large  number  of  refugees,  at 
Frankfort  and  elsewhere,  came,  more  or  less  directly,  into  contact 
with  both  schools  of  foreign  reformers.  What,  and  how  much, 
does  the  reformed  Church  of  England  owe  to  Wittenberg  and  Gen- 
eva? Some  acceleration,  perhaps,  but  a  vast  amount  of  confusion 
and  permanent  injury.  "What  benefit  she  received  from  them,  she 
paid  for  at  an  immense  price.  Did  the  land  of  Wycliffe  and  the 
home  of  Ridley  need  an  impulse  from  abroad  to  free  it  from  papal 
tyranny  ?  Let  those  who  choose,  believe  in  such  an  amazing  ne- 
cessity !  We  are  moved  to  retort  that  the  Church  of  England 
could  have  very  well  spared  such  unruly  spirits,  as  were  some  of 
the  imported  divines  as  well  as  her  own  returned  refugees,  like 
Knox  and  Cartwright ;  that  her  diseases  were  hardly  severe  enough 
to  need  the  terrible  purgation  of  Cromwell's  rebellion ;  that  her 
constitution  was  little  strengthened  by  having  her  vitals  strained 
and  torn  by  the  fierce  contentions  of  Presbyterians  and  Independ- 
ents ;  and  that  these  were  precisely  the  debts  she  owed  to  the 
Saxons  and  Helvetians, — these,  and  nothing  else.  This  is  not  in- 
tended to  be  of  the  nature  of  a  retoi't  discourteous.  We  need  not 
throw  these  things  up  against  the  Continental  Reformers  as  inten- 
tional injuries  of  which  they  were  guilty ; — nor  need  we  be  par- 
ticularly grateful  for  such  benefits.  We  respectfully  submit  that 
the  National  Church  which  possessed  the  universities  of  Cambridge 
and  Oxford  and  the  memories  of  Stephen  Langton  and  Robert 
Grosseteste,  was  perfectly  competent  to  take  care  of  herself,  that 
she  had  scholarship  enough  to  translate  the  Bible  and  read 
Cyprian  and  Irenseus,  Chrysostom  and  Augustine,  the  Cyrils, 
Gregories,  Basils  and  Eusebii,  Ambrose  and  Athanasius,  and  to 
deduce  from  such  sources  the  True  Faith  of  Genuine  Catholicity, 
even  if  she  had  never  heard  so  much  as  a  single  word  concerning 
Luther's  views  of  Justification,  or  Calvin's,  of  Predestination. 

It  was  hardly  within  the  range  of  possibility  that  a  church, 
upon  which  had  systematically  been  forced  for  centuries  a  conge- 
ries of  false  doctrines,  should  suddenlv  arise  and  shake  herself  en- 
tirely  free  from  error,  returning  at  once  to  the  pristine  purity  from 


360  TEE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

wliich  she  had  fallen.  How  could  it  have  been  expected  that  the 
English  Church  would  succeed  in  accomplishing  this  after  she  had 
been  so  long  subject  to  Rome  and  exposed  to  the  corrupting  in- 
fluences of  papal  emissaries  ?  TVhere  there  were  rajs  of  clear 
catliolic  teaching  to  guide  her,  she  might  indeed  recover  with 
speed  and  certainty  the  sacred  deposit  that  had  partly  been 
wrested  from  her  grasp ;  but,  unfortunatelv,  upon  more  than  one 
important  point  with  regard  to  which  a  decided  stand  had  to  be 
taken,  the  undivided  body  had  not  spoken  unequivocally,  because 
there  had  not  been  occasion  to  do  so.  In  such  cases  it  would  be 
incomparably  more  difficult  for  her  to  ascertain  the  mind  of  the 
Spirit,  because  the  abominations  of  her  long  servitude  had  defiled 
the  mirror  in  which  alone  it  could  be  seen  reflected.  She  had  lost 
the  talisman  by  which  truth  could  be  distinguished  from  inven- 
tion. The  continued  inculcation  of  error  through  generations  had 
destroyed  the  sensitiveness  of  the  comnion  understanding,  by 
■which  in  better  times,  while  the  multitude  had  not  vet  suffered 
the  contaminations  of  a  worse  than  Eg\'ptian  bondage,  it  had  in- 
stinctively turned  towards  eternal  verity.  The  wonder  ought  not 
to  be  that  the  English  Reformation  did  not  escape  without  flaws 
appearing  in  the  manufactured  fabric,  but  that  they  were  so  few 
in  number  and  not  more  vital  in  kind.  Upon  the  removal  of  the 
disturbing  mass,  the  needle  flew  back  and  pointed  with  marvelous 
closeness  towards  the  true  north. 

In  early  times  it  was  a  very  rare  occurrence  for  any  sect  to  do 
away  with  the  old  received  method,  of  church  government. 
"Whether  they  were  mere  schismatics  like  the  Donatists  of  Africa, 
or  heretics  also  like  the  followers  of  Arius,  Eusebius,  and  Aetius, 
the  separatists  always  took  pains  to  preserve  an  apostolic  ministry. 
None  but  the  wildest  sects,  entirely  outside  of  the  pale  of  Chris- 
tianity, such  as  the  Manichnsans,  ventured  to  construct  new  hier- 
archies. Therefore,  the  early  church  had  never  had  cause  to  pro- 
nounce definitely  upon  the  necessity  of  maintaining  the  time- 
honored  order.  It  might  be  demonstrable  that  it  had  acted  and 
taught  in  such  a  way  as  to  imply  a  belief  in  the  validity  of  episco- 
pal ordination,  and  of  that  alone  under  any  and  all  circumstances, 
but  such  belief  had  certainly  never  been  authoritatively  formu- 
lated. Consequently  the  chui'ch  question  came  before  Cranmer 
and  his  compeers  pressing  for  an  adjudication,  but  afifording  them 
little  upon  which  to  base  one.     And  there  was  no  question  which 


THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  361 

Roman  assumption  had  done  more  to  perplex.  Had  she  not  been 
teaching,  ever  since  the  days  of  Leo,  if  not  from  an  earlier  period 
than  even  that,  that  she  was  the  centre  of  Christendom,  its  stand- 
ard of  orthodoxy,  its  principle  of  imity,  its  very  heart  and  life  ? 
Generation  after  generation  had  grown  up  in  implicit  belief  of 
this  doctrine,  even  within  the  sea-lashed  borders  of  freedom-loving 
Britain.  And  now  the  Island  Church  had  flown  off  from  this 
great  centre  of  attraction.  How  shall  it  live  disunited  from  the 
heart?  Can  it  set  up  an  independent  circulation?  Who  does  not 
see  that  the  belief  in  visible  ecclesiastical  unity  was  shaken  to  its 
very  roots,  especially  since  it  was  testified  by  all  authentic  history 
that  the  Western  Patriarchate  had  assumed  prominence  so  far 
back  that  the  mind  of  man  hardly  ran  to  the  contrary  ?  If  the 
English  Church  had  been  torn  loose  from  the  Apostolic  See,  was  it 
not  in  fully  as  bad  a  position  as  even  the  continental  bodies,  with 
their  wholly  new  organizations  ?  Moreover,  the  arrogant  pontiffs 
had  sought  to  degrade  the  priesthood  in  general  by  insisting  that 
its  whole  authority  emanated  from  God's  vicegerent,  to  the  extent 
that  all  bishops  and  presbyters  were  merely  his  delegates,  by  him 
commissioned  and  empowered  to  act  in  his  name,  thus  confusing 
the  boundaries  of  the  different  orders  and  powerfully  tending  to 
subvert  the  entire  theory  of  a  divinely  authorized  ministry. 
What  was  to  become  of  episcopal  authority  after  the  incensed 
pope  had  withdrawn  so  much  of  it  as  he  had  conveyed  ?  How 
natural  it  was  for  such  as  had  been  taught  to  trace  the  clerical 
commission  to  Rome  as  its  source,  to  look  for  another  fountain  of 
delegated  authority  to  him  before  whom  they  now  did  homage  as 
the  earthly  head  of  the  ecclesiastical  corporation,  and  to  accept 
the  execrable  notion  that  the  Christian  ministry  is  a  higher  spe- 
cies of  state  police !  Thus  much,  at  least,  had  Rome  done  to 
confound  men's  minds  on  this  momentous  topic,  and  she  had  a 
potent  ally  in  that  feeling  of  sympathy  which  is  so  much  stronger 
than  all  the  arguments  of  logic.  The  Reformed  communities  of 
the  continent  were  engaged  in  the  same  desperate  struggle  into 
which  Henry  had  launched  the  English  Church.  All  had  one 
common  foe ;  all  fought  in  one  common  cause.  How,  then,  should 
the  Church  of  England  refuse  to  those  Christian  societies  the  name 
of  Slstey-  Churches  f  Would  it  not  be  extremely  ungracious,  little 
short  of  insulting,  to  withhold  such  a  title  from  those  with  whom 
she  was  almost  daily  exchanging  courtesies,  and  to  whom  she  was 


362  TEE  CnURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

herself  beholden  for  many  a  fovor?  What  right  had  she  to  pro- 
nounce upon  the  status  of  independent  bodies  ?  If  they,  profess- 
ing steadfast  adherence  to  all  the  great  truths  of  Christianity, 
were  content  without  apostolic  ordination,  was  she  so  much  wiser 
than  they  that  she  could  adjudicate  upon  the  tenableness  of  their 
position  ?  With  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican  still  rumbling  in 
her  ears,  should  she  rashly  alienate  her  best  friends  ? 

Now  that  the  cloud  of  battle  has  lifted  from  the  scene  of  con- 
flict, we  may  surely  be  permitted  to  survey  the  ground  with  our 
own  eyes  and  draw  our  own  conclusions.  Let  us  remember  that 
the  church  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  not,  like  that  of  the 
fourth,  an  uncorrupted  body  contending  against  the  inroads  of 
heresy,  but  a  diseased  organization  struggling  to  throw  oif  the 
noxious  humors.  The  Homodusion  controversy  was  settled  amid 
the  turmoil  of  a  tremendous  war,  but  the  orthodox  party  occu- 
pied a  vantage  ground  which  the  Reformers  did  not  possess.  A 
chaotic  conditicm  of  affairs  prevailed  in  nuitters  of  doctrine  during 
the  era  of  the  Ilefurniation.  Instead  of  holding  fast  to  a  form  of 
sound  words  and  to  a  well-defined  svstem  of  established  faith,  the 
divines  of  that  epoch  were  obliged  to  unearth  the  truth,  each  man 
for  himself,  from  beneath  an  immense  mass  of  rubbish.  As  every 
age  has  its  peculiar  tendencies,  so  that  age  had  its  own  doctrinal 
bias.  Let  us  never  forget  that,  if  the  judicious  Hooker  was  be- 
trayed into  unfortunate  admissions  with  regard  to  the  status  of 
the  continental  bodies,  he  also  allowed  himself  to  be  bewildered 
by  the  fogs  of  predestination,  and  strenuously  advocate  such  a 
figment  as  that  of  "  Final  Perseverance."  It  w^as  no  disgrace  to 
that  redoubtable  champion  that  he  could  not  at  once  fight  his  way 
clear  of  every  obstruction  ;  but  shall  we  refuse  to  profit  from  the 
efforts  of  the  strong  and  true  men  who  have  since  arisen  ?  The 
English  Church  seems  finally  to  have  shaken  her  skirts  free  from 
Calvinism,  notwithstanding  that  Hooker,  and  Leighton,  and  Cole- 
ridge were  tinctured  strongly  with  the  peculiar  ideas  of  that  sys- 
tem ;  and  why  may  she  not  be  permitted  to  treat  another  six- 
teenth-century error  in  the  same  way  ?  Shall  we  forbid  her  to  take 
so  much  as  one  step  in  advance  ?  Let,  then,  the  torch  be  applied 
to  her  libraries  and  her  institutions  of  learning,  for  of  what  use  are 
the  ponderous  erudition  and  acute  reasoning  of  a  Bull  or  a  Water- 
land,  if  they  may  not  be  permitted  to  instruct  us  more  perfectly 
in  the  facts  and  beliefs  of  primitive  Christianity,  and  to  show  us 


TEE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  363 

that  even  a  Hooker  could  trip?  How  immense  is  the  debt  of 
gratitude  due  Almighty  God  for  the  protection  He  extended  to 
the  English  Church  while  she  was  in  the  midst  of  so  much  confu- 
sion, guarding  her  from  the  great  perils  towards  which  her  warm- 
est sympathies  were  insensibly  drawing  her,  and  preserving  to 
her  the  unbroken  succession  which  she  so  grossly  undervalued ! 

The  same  Eeverence  for  Antiquity,  which  guided  tlie  progress 
of  the  English  Eeformers  towards  doctrinal  correctness,  marked 
their  formation  of  a  liturgy.  In  the  Conference  held  at  the  Savoy 
in  1661,  the  Presbyterian  divines  presented  for  adoption,  as  a  per- 
missible substitute  for  the  Prayer-book  then  in  use,  a  liturgy 
drawn  up  by  a  single  individual,  Eichard  Baxter,  who  must  him- 
self have  been  not  a  little  startled  at  the  notion  that  such  a  hasty, 
ill-digested,  and  crude  production  could  be  put  into  the  scales  witb 
a  grand  compilation  which  was  the  outgrowth  of  many  centuries. 
Greater  modesty  presided  in  the  councils  of  the  Church.  When  in 
Kino-  Edward's  reign  the  project  was  entertained  of  setting  forth  a 
service-book,  there  was  no  more  thought  of  composing  an  entirely 
original  one,  than  there  was  throughout  the  whole  struggle  an  in- 
tention of  devising  a  new  platform  of  faith.  The  humble  belief 
prevailed  that  such  forms  as  had  been  cut  out,  rounded,  and  pol- 
ished by  previous  generations  were  likely  to  be  incomparably 
superior  to  any  compositions  gotten  up  for  the  occasion.  These 
might  answer  the  purpose  well  enough  if  none  better  could  be 
found,  and  would  doubtless  improve  with  the  lapse  of  time  and 
the  changes  which  experience  would  suggest ;  but  where  was  the 
wisdom  of  throwing  awav  all  the  fruits  of  ancestral  labor,  and  be- 
ginning  entirely  anew?  If,  as  was  certainly  the  case,  Romish 
errors  had  crept  in,  would  it  not  be  more  prudent  to  weed  them 
out  than  to  dig  the  ground  all  over  and  plant  fresh  seed,  which 
would  be  exposed  to  the  inevitable  vicissitudes  of  the  seasons? 
So,  gathering  together  the  various  liturgies  which  were  employed 
in  different  sections  and  dioceses,  chief  among  which  ranked  the 
"  Use  of  Sarum,"  Cranmer  and  his  committee  set  themselves  the 
task  of  compiling  from  them  a  common  use  for  the  whole  realm, 
religiously  preserving  the  ancient  forms  as  far  as  possible,  care- 
fully eradicating,  however,  all  that  savored  of  false  doctrine  or 
objectionable  observance,  and  substituting  the  vulgar  tongue  for 
the  obsolete  phraseology  in  which  the  meaning  had  hidden  itself 
from  all  but  the  learned  few.     Thus  was  framed  the  First  Service- 


364  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

Book  of  Edward  VI.,  which  was  issued  in  1549,  and  forms  the 
basis  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  now  authorized  by  the 
Church  of  England.  Instead  of  being  the  production  of  a  few 
learned  and  pious  men  of  a  single  generation,  it  may  be  said  to 
have  borrowed  the  choicest  flowers  from  ancient  litui-ffies,  such  as 
the  Mozarabic  and  Gallican,  and  from  the  sacramentaries  of  Leo, 
Gelasius,  and  Gregory,  and  to  contain  anthems  and  collects  which 
had  been  in  constant  use  in  the  worship  of  Almighty  God  for  per- 
haps as  many  as  fitleen  centuries.  This  book  was  revised  under 
Edward  in  1552,  and  again  in  1559  under  Elizabeth,  was  assailed 
by  Non-conformist  divines  at  the  Conference  granted  by  James  I. 
at  Hampton  Court  in  1604,  and  was  subjected  to  a  final  assault  by 
the  Presbytei-ians  at  the  Savoy  discussion  ;  but  passed  through  the 
ordeals  without  serious  injury,  although  the  clamor  against  it 
waxed  hotter  and  hotter  as  Dissent  grew  stronger  and  more  con- 
fident. The  Prayer-book  stood  its  ground,  and  soon  enshrined 
itself  in  the  love  and  veneration  of  all  loyal  children  of  the  English 
Church  as  a  most  precious  legacy  of  the  Ages. 

Besides  these  service-books,  documents  and  treatises  of  various 
kinds  were  issued  for  the  instruction  and  guidance  of  the  clergy 
and  people,  and  for  the  defense  of  the  faith.  Reluctant  as  the 
more  prudent  minds  may  have  been  to  multiply  forms  of  belief, 
and  set  authoritative  limits  to  the  rambling  of  opinion  narrower 
than  those  which  had  been  sufficient  down  to  their  day,  a  necessity 
was  upon  them  from  which  they  could  not  escape.  It  was  the 
fashion  of  the  times  to  fabricate  catechisms  and  confessions.  All 
parties  M-ere  busy  at  the  work.  Luther,  Melancthon,  Calvin,  and 
ti)e  Iloman  Catholics  were  shaping  doctrines,  fitting  them  together 
carefully,  and  framing  them  into  strange  edifices,  which  might  be 
useful,  but  certainly  were  not  attractive.  Yet  people  in  vast  mul- 
titudes were  seeking  shelter  within  these  skeleton  houses,  and, 
imagining  themselves  protected,  were  loudly  praising  the  archi- 
tects, and  shouting  to  others  to  come  and  join  them.  The  English 
Church  must  either  reconcile  herself  to  the  prospect  of  losing  large 
numbers  of  her  children,  or  else  follow  the  general  example  and 
erect  her  own  particular  frame-work  of  doctrine;  and  indeed  she 
could  not  but  acknowledge  that  the  universal  prevalence  of  a 
debased  faith  had  rendered  expedient  the  setting  forth  in  clear  and 
authoritative  formulae,  accompanied  with  copious  and  accurate 
expositions,  of  those  points  in  which  it  had  sufiered  depravation. 


THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  355 

Her  singular  merit  was  the  never  forgetting  that  she  had  no  right 
to  say  what  the  faith  ought  to  be,  or  to  reason  out  wliat  it  must 
be,  but  that  when  once  she  had  dedared  what  it  always  had  been, 
her  function  was  at  an  end.  Instead  of  turning  her  glance  in- 
ward to  see  what  kind  of  a  creed  would  best  comport  with  her 
own  ideas  and  feelings,  she  modestly  and  reverentially  opened  her 
ear  to  the  testimony  of  the  ages,  distrusting  the  conclusions  of  her 
own  understanding  till  she  found  them  to  harmonize  with  the 
teacliings  of  the  past. 

An  archdeacon  of  Nottingham,  as  early  as  1535,  or  only  two 
years  after  the  separation  from  Eome,  drew  up  a  simple  tract 
intended  for  the  unlearned  public  and  called  the  King's  Primer. 
The  first  series  of  Articles  was  published  the  next  year  by  the 
joint  authority  of  the  King  and  both  Houses  of  Convocation:  they 
did  not  indicate  the  abandonment  of  much  Romish  error.     A 
fuller  exposition  of  the  faith  as  then  held  was  contained  in  the 
famons  "  Bishop's  Book,"  or  "  The  Institution  of  a  Christian  Man." 
Three  years  later  the  temporary  triumph  of  Gardiner  and  the 
anti-reform  party  was  signalized  by  the  passage  of  a  statute  en- 
forcing Six  Articles  of  a  decidedly  Eomish  complexion  with  such 
sanguinary  rigor  that  the  Act  became  known  as  the  "  six-stringed 
whip : "  burning  at  the  stake  was  the  penalty  affixed  for  disputing 
against  transubstantiation,  and  death  without  benefit  of  clergy  for 
denying   any  one  of  the  five  other  Articles.     N"ext   came   the 
"Rationale,"  which  contained  an  explanation  of  ritual  and  a  justi- 
fication of  its  retention  ;  and  a  little  later  the  "  King's  Book  "  or 
the  "Necessary  Doctrine  and  Erudition  of  a  Christian  Man,"  in 
the  composition  of  some  difficult  portions  of  which  the  hand  of 
Redmayne  is  conspicuous,  who  was  the  Master  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  and  not,  perhaps,  excelled  in  ability  and  breadth  of 
mind  by  any  of  his  contemporaries.     It  was  in  many  respects  a 
most  admirable  production,  but  labored  under  the  great  defect  of 
strenuously  maintaining   transubstantiation,   concomitancy,    and 
non-communicating  attendance.     In  1547,  the  year  of  Edward's 
accession,  appeared  the  first  book  of  Homihes,  intended  to  be  read 
from  the  pulpit  in  the  place  of  sermons  ;  the  second  book,  although 
promised  in  the  first,  not  being  published  till  the  reign  of  Eliza- 
beth.    Besides  the  various  series  of  Articles  already  mentioned,  a 
set  of  Thirteen  had  been  drawn  up,  on  occasion  of  the  negotiations 
opened,  under  Henry,  with  the  Lutheran  divines,  to  serve  as  a 


366  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  FAITH. 

compromise  or  basis  of  union,  but  had  never  received  any  official 
sanction.  Tliese,  however,  were  resuscitated  as  a  guide  for 
Cranmer  and  the  learned  divines  who  assisted  him  in  preparing 
and  revising  the  Forty-two  Articles,  which  were  just  beginning  to 
be  put  in  circulation  when  the  tide  of  Romanism  rushed  in  through 
the  gates  that  Mary's  hand  threw  open.  As  soon  as  Elizabeth 
liad  restored  the  ascendancy  to  Protestantism,  Archbishop  Parker 
undertook  a  rearranging  of  the  Articles  of  belief,  being  materially 
aided  in  this  work  by  the  ready  cooperation  of  Jewel,  the  noted 
apologist.  Those  which  he  ultimately  presented  to  Convocation 
differed  only  slightly  from  Cranmei*'s  Forty-two,  and  were  formally 
ratified,  after  a  few  modifications  and  erasures  had  been  made,  in 
1562.  "With  some  changes,  they  were  afterwards  sanctioned  by 
the  Queen  and  duly  promulgated.  Then,  in  1571,  they  were 
again  revised,  signed  anew  by  both  Houses  of  Convocation,  and 
sent  forth  into  the  M-orld,  Thirty-nine  in  number,  and  bearing  the 
same  form  and  appearance  which  they  have  ever  since  worn. 
This  list  may  be  closed  with  a  brief  notice  of  the  Lambeth  Articles, 
for  which  Archbishop  Whitgift  is  responsible :  they  were  thor- 
oughly  Calvinistic  and  Supralapsarian,  were  received  by  Burleigh 
with  strong  disapprobation  and  by  Elizabeth  almost  with  disgust, 
and  merely  had  the  result  of  affixing  a  stigma  to  the  name  of  their 
author. 

"VVe  have  seen  that  the  English  Church,  after  asserting  its  in^ 
dependence,  retained  both  the  faith  and  worship  which  it  had  had 
before,  changing  them  gradually  as  it  discerned  cause  under  the 
white  light  of  the  pure  and  genuine  catholicity  to  which  it  ap- 
pealed. We  are  now  to  inquire  whether  its  organic  existence  was 
not  impaired  to  such  an  extent  that  it  ceased  to  be  a  living  branch 
of  the  One  Church.  To  determine  that  it  preserved  an  apostolic 
ministry  is  not  sufficient,  because  it  might  nevertheless,  by  cutting 
itself  off"  from  the  body  of  the  faithful,  have  forfeited  its  claim  to 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  whole  investigation  reduces  itself 
down  to  this  question,  "Was  a  sentence  of  excommunication,  pro- 
nounced by  a  bishop  who  had  so  exalted  his  just  patriarchal  dig- 
nity that  he  claimed  autocratic  power  over  the  churches,  and 
acquiesced  in  by  the  numerous  provincial  churches  which  acknowl- 
edged his  sway,  against  an  autocephalous  body  on  account  of  its 
refusal  to  submit  anv  lono-cr  to  his  exorbitant,  unfounded,  and 
ungodly  usurpations,  sufficient  to  deprive  that  body  of  its  character 


TEE  ENOLISH  CEUBCE.  367 

and  being  as  a  portion  of  that  Cliurch  wbicli  Christ  promised  to 
be  with  unto  the  end  of  the  world  1  We  answer  distinctly.  No : 
for  an  unjust  excoininunication,  as  that  most  plainly  was,  is  utterly 
invalid,  except  as  injuring  the  one  who  fulminates  it.  This  being 
admitted,  w^e  are  thrown  back  upon  the  question,  Did  the  reformed 
Church  really  possess  a  duly-ordained  episcopal  ministry  ?  If  the 
English  bishops  and  clergy  were  endued  with  the  grace  of  Holy 
Orders  before  1533,  they  must  also  have  been  so  posterior  to  that 
important  date  of  separation,  because  every  bishop, — with  the  ex- 
ception of  Fisher  of  Rochester, — consented  to  take  the  oath  of  royal 
supremacy.  Mary  having  filled  the  sees  with  adherents  of  the 
papacy,  it  would  have  been  entirely  proper  for  Elizabeth,  in  her 
turn,  to  have  expelled  them  and  instated  friends  of  the  new  move- 
ment ;  but  she  was  pleased  to  act  towards  the  incumbents  with 
great  leniency,  supplanting  none  but  the  most  unyielding,  whom 
she  could  not  spare  without  violating  the  great  law  of  self-protec- 
tion. A  ridiculous  story  concerning  the  consecration  of  Matthew 
Parker  has  been  manufactured  out  of  whole  cloth  by  Jesuitical 
unscrupulousness ;  but  it  can  be  passed  over  with  the  brief  re- 
mark that  it  is  an  unmitigated  falsehood,  deserving  the  appella- 
tion of  the  Nag's-IIead  Fable ;  and  that  the  worthy  and  distin- 
guished Archbishop  w^as  regularly  consecrated  at  Lambeth,  on  the 
17th  of  December,  1559,  by  Barlow,  Scory,  Coverdale,  and  Hodg- 
kins,  four  bishops  in  good  standing.  The  Church  of  Rome,  we 
moreover  allege,  having  withheld  its  bull  of  excommunication  till 
1570,  and  so  allowed  all  its  followers  within  the  borders  of  England 
to  worship,  for  the  first  twelve  years  of  the  Virgin  Queen,  at  the 
altars  served  by  Parker's  clergy,  is  in  a  very  poor  position  to  deny 
the  validity  of  Anglican  Orders.  If  Pius  Y.  and  his  predecessor 
did  not  by  this  delay  tacitly  acknowledge  the  English  reformed 
Church  as  a  living,  if  not  as  an  independent,  church,  we  are 
somewhat  at  a  loss  to  imagine  how  they  could  have  done  so  more 
eifectuall}^ 

The  English  Reformation,  w^ith  all  those  fortunate  character- 
istics which  distinguished  it  from  the  Saxon  and  the  Swiss,  was 
not  an  accident,  but  the  result,  in  a  greater  measure,  of  those  causes 
which  had  made  the  English  nation  what  it  was,  nourishing  within 
it  those  two  noble  sentiments  which,  when  properly  combined, 
raise  the  national,  or  the  individual,  character  to  the  very  highest 
grade, — intense  reverence  for  all  that  is  venerable,  and  inextin- 


368  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

guishable  love  of  liberty.  "Working  in  the  sphere  of  civil  life, 
these  two  principles  resulted  in  a  steady  march  tovrards  the  per- 
manent establishment  of  free  institutions,  not  so  much  by  means 
of  a  series  of  revolutions,  as  through  a  temperate,  but  inflexible, 
resistance  of  aggression  ;  and  evolved  the  Common  Law,  which  is 
a  system  of  precedents  built  upon  the  maxim  that  the  old  is  not, 
without  the  very  best  of  reasons,  to  be  changed.  In  the  sphere  of 
religion,  these  same  sentiments,  the  one  restraining  and  the  other 
impelling,  held  the  Church  tightly  bound  to  the  faith  which  had 
descended  from  its  forefathers  bearing  the  stamp  of  catholicity,  and 
yet  spurred  it  on  to  an  examination  of  each  and  every  article  of 
the  current  belief  which  seemed  at  all  doubtful,  and  to  the  final 
and  absolute  rejection  of  all  which  could  not  abide  the  test  of  the 
Yincentian  Canon.  Reverence  and  independence  were  traits  of 
the  national  character,  because  the  germs,  which  are  present  in  a 
more  or  less  healthy  condition  in  all  races,  had  been  peculiarly 
vio-orous  in  the  composite  race  which  had  grown  out  of  the  com- 
mino-line:  of  the  oriirinal  inhabitants  with  the  successive  invaders; 
and  because  they  had  developed  under  such  favorable  auspices  as 
were  to  be  found  in  an  insular  situation,  in  the  inheritance  of 
various  admirable  codes  of  laws,  and,  above  all,  in  the  possession 
of  a  Church  which  is  vitalizing  air  for  them  both. 

It  is  often  easier  to  destroy  and  reconstruct  than  to  modify  and 
rearrange.  Of  all  easy  things,  the  easiest  is  to  destroy.  A  feeble 
blow  from  an  idiot's  hanuner  can,  in  a  single  moment,  hopelessly 
deface  the  master-piece  of  a  Domenichino  or  a  Michael  Angelo, 
an  infimt's  hand  can  apply  the  torch  to  an  Alexandrian  library, 
or  a  random  bullet  can  paralyze  the  mightiest  brain  and  biggest 
heart.  The  work  of  reconstruction  is,  of  course,  harder,  and  yet  it 
may  be  far  from  difficult,  provided  the  builder  is  not  very  careful 
as  to  what  he  builds.  To  burn  a  ship  is  not  hard,  nor  is  it  a  very 
laborious  task  to  construct  a  raft  from  the  floating  timbers  of  the 
wreck;  but  to  haul  the  vessel  up  on  the  ways,  and  substitute 
sound  planks  for  such  as  have  rotted  away,  requires  the  skill  of  an 
artisan.  To  overturn  the  settled  order  of  government  and  institute 
a  new  one  is  often  within  the  power  of  any  shallow  fanatic ;  while 
to  introduce  needed  reforms  without  resorting  to  the  dangerous 
expedient  of  a  revolution  is  an  undertaking  for  the  ablest  states- 
man. The  task  before  the  English  Reformers  was  not  the  simple 
one  of  undermining  one  theory  and  devising  a  new  one,  nor  of 


THE  ENGLISH  CUVRCH.  369 

throwing  down  one  edifice  and  erecting  another  according  to  their 
own  plans  and  devices,  for  such  processes  ^yq  fatal  to  the  Church 
of  God ;  but  it  was  one  of  enormous  difficulty, — not  less  than  that 
of  analyzing  a  vast  mass  of  mingled  truth  and  error  with  a  view 
to  liberating  the  pure  faith,  and  of  restoring  the  outward  organiza- 
tion to  its  former  condition  without  destroying  or  impairing  its 
corporate  existence.  Could  such  a  work  have  been  accomplished 
in  an  hour,  or  a  day,  or  a  month,  or  a  year  ?  Could  it  have  been 
achieved  by  the  fiat  of  a  tyrant,  the  consultations  of  a  convocation, 
or  the  assiduous  labors  of  a  pious  sage  ?  Such  a  movement  could 
only  have  been  brought  to  a  happy  termination  by  the  gradual 
process  of  natural  growth.  As  the  man  who  has  long  suffered 
from  severe  disease  cannot,  by  any  means  known  to  surgery  or 
medicine,  be  at  once  completely  cured,  but  must  wait  for  the  waste 
of  his  system  to  be  slowly  repaired  by  recuperative  energy,  so  a 
sick  church  cannot  be  healed  in  a  moment.  All  attempts  to  bring 
about  such  a  result  must  produce  disaster,  and  will  be  scouted  by 
all  sensible  persons. 

How  strong  must  have  been  the  feeling  of  conservatism  in  the 
national  breast  of  England  to  triumph  over  the  tremendous  as- 
saults which,  now  and  again,  threatened  to  drag  or  drive  the  church 
to  one  extreme  or  the  other!  How  indomitable  the  resolve  with 
which  public  sentiment  clung  to  the  freeman's  prerogative  of 
thinking  and  acting  for  himself!  Henry's  fierce  despotism  exerts 
itself  in  vain  to  tame  the  great  throbbing  heart  of  the  nation  and 
teach  it  to  wear  his  chains.  Scarcely  has  the  liberated  Church 
begun  to  taste  the  sweets  of  comparative  freedom  under  the  youth- 
ful Edward  when  death  blights  the  fair  promise  of  his  reign. 
Then  the  caged  panther  broke  loose  and  buried  his  keen  fangs  in 
the  quivering  flesh  of  his  victim.  With  one  blow  of  his  paw  he 
laid  three  mitred  skulls  in  the  ashes  of  Smithfield,  sending  dis- 
may through  the  timid  bosoms  of  an  unshepherded  flock.  The 
red  banner  floated  over  England  and  filled  the  atmosphere  with 
the  luridness  which  it  shook  from  its  folds.  The  heedless  bigotry 
of  Philip  and  the  unmeasured  presumption  of  Home  were  so  tem- 
pered by  the  wise  moderation,  Christian  charity,  and  statesmanlike 
skill  of  Cardinal  Pole  that  they  crushed  instead  of  goading.  Yet 
the  Church  of  England  did  not  succumb.  It  speedily  revived 
under  the  benignant  sway  of  Elizabeth,  who  in  the  earlier  part  of 
her  reign  managed  ecclesiastical  affairs  with  singular  discretion. 


370  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

With  the  accession  of  James  I.  tlie  reactionary  movement  began 
to  gather  head  which  he  was  too  feeble  and  timid  to  control,  and 
which,  taking  advantage  of  the  gross  maladministration  of  his  suc- 
cessor, deprived  Strafibrd  and  Land  of  their  honors  and  lives,  and 
finally  sent  Charles  himself  to  the  scaffold.  Then  disorder  reigned 
supreme,  working  its  wild  will  with  priest,  and  prayer-book,  and 
temple,  and  playing  havoc  with  all  that  Avas  sanctified  by  age, 
established  usage,  or  divine  appointment.  "What  Puritanism 
could  do  to  take  the  life  of  the  National  Church  was  done.  Tf  the 
Church  had  no  need  to  complain,  though  her  civil  rights  were 
taken  from  her  and  her  revenues  confiscated,  had  she  no  cause  to 
feel  aggrieved  that  her  bishops  were  driven  from  their  sees  and 
her  priests  compelled  to  sit  in  idleness,  their  families  starving 
around  them,  while  their  flocks  were  given  over  into  the  charge 
of  those  whose  pastoral  staves  had  never  been  put  into  their  hands 
by  divine  authority,  and  who  were  sure  to  lead  astray  such  as 
would  follow  them?  AVhat  men  like  Pearson,  Bull,  and  Ussher 
suflered  from  Puritan  persecution  is  matter  of  indelible  record. 
Eight  thousand  of  the  clergy  are  said  to  have  been  deprived,  and 
that  without  cause  or  provocation.  Episcopacy  was  put  under  the 
ban,  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  suppressed,  churches  turned 
into  conventicles,  altars  desecrated.  An  Episcopalian  might  not, 
it  is  true,  be  seized  the  instant  his  faith  was  known,  and  hurried 
oft"  to  the  dungeon,  the  rack,  and  the  stake ;  but  he  could  neither 
bury  his  dead,  baptize  his  children,  marry  his  wife,  nor  procure 
the  life-giving  food  of  the  Eucharist  without  encountering  ob- 
stacles that  would  discourage  any  but  the  most  persevering,  ex- 
posing himself  to  the  derision  of  his  neighbors,  and  perhaps 
involving  himself  in  contempt  of  some  arbitrary  statute.  Was 
the  life  or  the  spirit  of  the  persecuted  church  crushed  out 
of  her?  The  shield  of  her  Lord's  protection  was  over  her,  the 
sti-ength  of  His  favor  within  her.  What  the  open  assaults  of 
Romanism  and  Puritanism  failed  to  accomplish,  the  lukeM'arm- 
ness  and  insidious  hostility  of  the  House  of  Hanover  under- 
took with  no  better  success.  Founded  upon  the  Rock,  Eng- 
land's sorely-tried  Church  endured  the  storms,  and  fell  not. 
She  was  neither  lashed  into  fury,  nor  frightened  into  weak  com- 
pliance ;  but  through  the  dread  ordeal,  with  pace  quickened  as 
the  danger  and  the  suflfering  increased,  with  eye  fixed  upon  the 
cross  which  went  before  her  as  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire 


THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  371 

before  Israel  of  old,  she  marched  steadily  forward  towards  genu- 
ine Catholicity. 

Would  that  in  the  mental  constitution  of  Archbishop  Cranmer 
there  had  entered  somewhat  more  of  courage  and  tirmness  !  Then 
might  a  noble  name  have  been  spared  a  blot  which  now  rests  upon 
it.  But  in  that  event  perhaps  the  influence  of  Cranmer  would 
have  predominated  too  much,  and  fashioned  Englishmen  into 
Cranmerites  instead  of  Churchmen.  If  that  great  and  good  man 
did  yield  to  the  threats  of  his  enemies,  there  were  those  whose 
souls  were  made  of  better  stufl",  and  he  himself  afterwards  redeemed 
his  fair  fame  by  summoning  resolution  to  die  like  a  Christian  hero. 
"Who  shall  compute  the  number  of  those  who  have  drawn  inspi- 
ration from  the  glorious  examples  of  Nicholas  Ridley,  and  of 
staunch  Hugh  Latimer,  most  outspoken  of  prelates  ?  The  English 
Church  has  little  cause  to  be  asliamed  of  such  sons,  or  of  the  noble 
army  of  those  who  endured  the  life-long  martyrdom  of  abuse  and 
persecution  at  the  hands  of  the  Puritans.  But  let  the  memory  of 
all  such  violence  and  ill-usage  die  out  and  be  buried,  except  so 
far  as  it  may  be  needed  in  order  that  we  should  duly  value  the 
martyrs  of  the  Reformation.  Blessed  above  all  things  to  that 
communion  were  those  times  of  trial.  The  prosperity  of  the 
Churcli,  her  alliance  with  the  State,  and  the  seeming  support  and 
strength  and  favor  she  thence  derives,  have  raised  up  against  her 
the  bitterest  enemies  that  have  ever  beset  her  pathway  ;  for  even 
the  Independents  did  not  hate  episcopacy  so  much  as  they  did 
prelacy.,  not  the  hinliop  as  much  as  the  peer.  Adversity,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  been  to  her  the  chastisement  of  a  loving  and 
wise  Father,  driving  away  from  her  the  false  and  the  faint- 
hearted, training  the  steadfast  in  the  duties  of  the  true  soldier, 
and  forcing  into  prominence  such  as  were  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  the  qualities  of  leadership.  Many  giant  intellects 
have  been  given  her,  filled  to  overflowing  with  the  lore  of  ages 
and  skilled  in  the  use  of  all  the  weapons  of  logic,  large  hearts 
bubbling  over  with  sympathy  for  all  the  hopes  and  fears  of  man- 
kind, throbbing  with  pity  for  its  woes,  and  thirsting  for  oppor- 
tunities to  advance  its  welfare  both  in  time  and  in  eternity, 
and  resolute,  inflexible,  heroic  wills,  able  to  do,  and  dare,  and 
suffer  anything  at  the  call  of  duty  or  the  promptings  of  love ; 
and  much  have  these  done  to  shed  the  brilliant  light  of  Heaven 
upon  the  Church  Militant  within   the  boundaries  of  England; 


372  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

but,  for  the  rescue  of  that  Church  from  the  perils  whicli  crowded 
so  thickly  about  her  during  the  Reformation  era,  the  praise 
must  be  ascribed  to  Him  whose  arm  alone  was  strong  enough 
to  'preserve  what  He  alone  could  have  created^  the  Kingdom  of 
God  on  earth. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE   AMEKICAN   CHtTRCH. 

Flying  from  the  evils,  real  or  imaginary,  which  attend  his  pres- 
ent lot  or  threaten  his  future,  temporarily  oblivious  of  the  strong 
and  lasting  attachment  which  almost  every  mortal  feels  for  the  spot 
which  gave  him  birth,  impelled  and  sustained  by  the  universal 
longing  of  humanity  for  change,  and  filled  with  high  hopes  re- 
garding the  happiness  to  be  found  in  strange  climes  and  under 
altered  circumstances,  persons  can  always  be  enlisted  in  any  ad- 
venture which  holds  out  the  glittering  prizes  of  wealth  and  ease, 
to  be  won  at  the  price  of  brief,  if  arduous,  eifort.  When  the 
genius  and  perseverance  of  the  heroic  Genoese  had  permanently 
added  to  the  map  of  the  world  that  distant  continent,  which 
poetiy  had  depicted  under  the  glowing  imagery  of  the  fabled  At- 
lantis, and  the  roving  barks  of  adventurous  Northmen  had  sighted 
when  running  helpless  before  the  prolonged  tempest  and  anxiously 
looking  for  shelter,  a  vast  territory  invited  the  inhabitants  of  the 
densely-peopled  states  of  Europe  to  breathe  its  free  air  and  snatch 
the  golden  fruit  held  out  by  the  prodigality  of  centuries  as  a  re- 
ward for  hardihood,  independence,  and  daring.  Many  nations 
vied  with  each  other  in  colonizing  the  new  continent.  The  fore- 
most races  of  Europe  sent  of  their  boldest  spirits  as  pioneers 
into  the  pathless  wilderness,  and  when  these  fell  victims  to  dis- 
ease, or  famine,  or  the  tomahawk,  dispatched  ten  ardent  recruits  to 
fill  the  place  of  each.  The  choicest  fountains  mingled  their  waters 
in  one  stream,  which  sparkled  with  their  combined  virtues.  If 
commixture  of  blood  tends  towards  the  production  of  a  superior 
race,  what  a  compounding  was  here!  One  tributary  brought 
from  Palos  and  Barcelona  the  concentrated  worth  of  the  original 
Spaniard,  the  Roman,  the  Goth,  and  the  Moor ;  another  flowed 
laden  with  the  noble  qualities  of  the  Gaul,  the  Frank,  the  ubiqui- 
tous Latin,  and  the  Dane ;  a  third  bore  along  the  fused  nation- 


37tlr  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

alities  which  liad  successively  hurled  themselves  upon  the  English 
shores;  while  Scandinavians,  and  Dutch,  and  Scotch,  and  Irish, 
and  Germans,  and  the  natives  of  Italy's  fertile  soil  made  up  other 
rills  to  swell  the  mighty  tide  and  render  it  still  more  composite. 
The  settlers  came  to  a  glorious  land.  They  built  their  huts  be- 
neath the  waving  boughs  of  the  primeval  forest  upon  ground  en- 
riched by  the  accumulated  vegetal  deposit  of  countless  ages.  At 
their  feet  broke  the  waves  which  had  been  gathering  impetus  ever 
since  they  sped  from  the  unseen  shore  thousands  of  miles  away. 
Behind  them  stretched  the  unl)roken  forest,  for  hundreds  of  miles, 
across  mighty  ranges  that  lifted  their  long  backs  skywards,  ending 
then  in  boundless  prairies  which  sadly  renewed  the  infinitude  of 
the  sea.  No  shallow  rivulets  poured  the  furious  torrents  of  win- 
ter with  hoarse  roar  through  the  affrighted  land,  and  then  shrank 
abashed  and  exhausted  into  petty  brooks,  or  left  dry  beds  to  mock 
the  thirsty  traveler;  but  broad,  deep,  perennial  rivers,  rushing  in 
silent  strength  and  generous  fullness  through  the  laughing  land, 
intersected  the  whole  breadth  of  North  America,  at  once  afford- 
ing drainage  and  supplying  moisture  to  the  air,  adding  beauty  to 
the  landscape  and  offering  priceless  facilities  to  trade,  commerce, 
and  manufticture.  One  envies  the  Dutch  navigator  whose  eye 
first  traced  the  rugged  rock-face  of  the  Palisades,  saw  the  soft 
light  of  evening  rest  upon  the  undulating  eastern  bank  of  Tappan 
Zee,  dimly  discerned  the  sharp  peaks  behind  an  elevated  plateau 
which  sweeps  from  the  bold  mountains  about  Kockland  Lake  to 
the  historic  vicinity  of  Stony  Point,  beheld  the  first  ray  of  morn- 
ing smite  upon  Dunderbcrg's  stem  forehead,  marked  baffling 
Minds  ruflle  the  calm  surface  while  opposing  ranges  conspired  to 
retain  his  clumsy  vessel  in  the  charmed  reach,  lingered  upon  the 
grandeur  of  the  Southern  Gateway  looming  so  solemnly  far  be- 
hind, looked  through  the  Northern  Entrance  of  the  Highlands, 
with  dome-shaped  Storm  King  towering  rock-fronted  and  awful- 
browed  far  above  him,  out  upon  the  broad  expanse  of  river  and 
woodland  to  the  shadowy  Katskills,  and  delighted  itself  with 
the  lovely  bays  and  beautiful,  rocky,  evergreen -crowned  promon- 
tories, which  passed  before  it  as  the  voyage  extended  northwards, 
feasting  continuously  upon  an  incomparable  and  ever-varying 
scene.  Did  he  conjecture  what  an  importance  would  presently 
attach  to  that  lonely,  but  matchless,  river  as  a  main  artery  of  a 
great  metropolis  ?     Did  he  perceive  how  well  calculated  it  was  by 


THE  AMEEIGAN  CHURCH.  3Y5 

nature  to  form  the  outlet  of  a  vast  agricultural  district,  laying  its 
tribute  at  the  wharves  of  a  haughty  city  ?  Was  his  power  of 
penetration  sufficient  to  show  him  in  a  vision  how  the  multitudes 
of  that  city,  rich  and  poor,  when  enervated  and  worn  out  by  the 
luxuriousness  and  laborious  excitement  of  such  centres  of  wealth, 
would  dart  away  from  the  unrest,  the  turmoil,  the  infected  air, 
the  depressing  influences  of  the  great  emporium  which  should  one 
day  grow  into  such  magnitude  and  dignity  at  its  mouth,  and  take 
refuge  amid  the  glories  of  this  queenliest  of  rivers,  slaking  the 
thirst  of  their  souls  at  the  crystal  pool  provided  by  Nature's 
bountiful  hand  ?  A  glorious  river  and  a  glorious  continent ! 
made,  however,  be  it  remembered,  by  God,  and  not  by  the  proud 
nation  who  boast  the  possession  of  them. 

The  voyage  from  Europe  to  America  was  long:  it  was  per- 
ilous. Multitudes  made  it,  nevertheless.  The  privations  and 
dangers  to  be  encountered  when  the  settlement  had  been  formed, 
were  far  from  inconsiderable ;  but  were  insufficient  to  deter  those 
left  behind  from  imitating  the  example  of  such  as  had  gone  before 
them.  Anglo-Saxon  blood  and  traditions  predominated,  and  the 
sway  of  Great  Britain  was  acknow^ledged  from  Hudson's  Bay  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  English  government  presumes  upon  its 
authority,  drives  thirteen  colonies  into  a  revolt,  and  is  compelled  to 
concede  their  independence  after  a  struggle  which  tests  and  de- 
velops the  manhood  of  the  Americans  through  eight  years  of 
severe  trial.  In  1812  another  war  breaks  out  by  reason  of  an 
insolent  claim  which  England  advances  to  the  right  of  searching 
our  vessels  for  British  sailors.  At  New  Orleans,  Plattsburg,  and 
Lundy's  Lane  the  countrymen  of  Wellington  are  overmatched. 
The  choicest  troops  recoil  from  the  push  of  American  bayonets. 
On  Lakes  Champlain  and  Erie,  and  over  the  broad  seas,  McDon- 
ough,  Perry,  Bainbridge,  Decatur,  and  other  commanders  tame 
the  pride  of  the  English  navy.  At  the  close  of  the  first  war  a 
most  admirable  constitution  is  adopted  under  the  influence  of 
such  men  as  Jefferson,  Hamilton,  the  Adamses,  and,  above  all,  of 
that  grandest  of  patriotic  generals  and  statesmen,  the  illustrious 
Washington.  The  resources  of  the  country  are  developed  with 
marvelous  rapidity.  Civilization  strides  westward  as  fast  as  the 
avenues  of  commerce  can  be  opened,  and  even  outruns  the  pant- 
ing, screeching  locomotive.  That  higher  interests  than  those  of 
material  progress   are   not   wholly  neglected   is  proved  by  the 


376  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH 

springing  up  on  all  sides  of  scbool-hoiises  and  edifices  for  public 
worship,  by  the  charts  of  the  Coast  Survey,  by  the  establishment 
of  stations  for  meteorological  observation,  and  by  the  numerous 
and  highly  important  contributions  made  by  American  sages, 
philosophers,  and  devotees  of  the  fine  arts,  to  learning,  science, 
literature,  and  art. 

Nevertheless,  being  yet  in  her  youth,  America  should  look  to 
the  future  for  the  achievement  of  worthy  undertakings  and  for  the 
acquisition  of  substantial  fame.  It  is  rather  what  she  is  yet  to  be- 
come than  what  she  already  is,  tliat  must  mark  out  for  her  her 
proper  place  among  the  nations.  She  will  wofully  delude  herself 
if  she  hearkens  to  the  boastful  strains  of  the  orator  who  finds  it  to 
his  interest  that  he  should  sing  her  praises.  As  she  lives  for  the 
future,  let  her  shun  the  dangers  which  threaten  her.  One  great 
peril  hangs  portentous  in  her  sky.  "Whence  it  comes  we  hardly 
may  venture  to  ask.  Is  there  lacking  in  the  inherited  traits  of 
the  American  race  a  due  proportion  of  Dutch  phlegm  and  German 
patience  and  thrift  ?  or  have  the  circumstances  of  its  histoiy  and 
the  nature  of  its  institutions  strengthened  other  characteristics  at 
the  expense  of  these  ?  or  is  there  some  peculiarity  in  the  climate 
wliich  diminishes  robustness  and  vitality,  and  generates  a  certain 
feverish  restlessness  ?  Whatever  may  be  its  source,  the  deficiency 
is  prominent  enough  ;  and,  unless  some  antidote  or  compensation 
be  found  for  it,  will  produce  disastrous  results,  probably  poisoning 
the  American  character  and  rendering  it  utterly  feeble,  capricious, 
and  unreliable.  The  great  defect  may  be  specified  as  a  want  of 
conservatism,  a  strong  predilection  for  the  new  and  disregard,  or 
even  contempt,  for  the  old,  a  lack  of  reverence  manifesting  itself 
most  painfully  in  the  customary  disobedience  exhibited  by  the 
young,  in  the  frequent  use  of  profane  and  foul  language,  and  in  a 
boastful  exaltation  of  the  present  era,  accompanied  by  an  unmeas- 
ured extolling  of  everything  American.  Such  a  weakness  of  na- 
tional character  is  a  very  serious  one,  leading  almost  inevitably  to 
inordinate  vanity,  the  practice  of  throwing  upon  the  market  fabrics 
worthless  by  reason  of  undue  haste  in  their  manufacture,  a  negli- 
gent and  unremunerative  method  of  tillage,  the  multiplying  of 
unsafe  and  unsubstantial  dwellings  and  public  buildings,  super- 
ficialness  in  scholarship,  and  all  the  other  results  which  naturally 
flow  from  over-estimation  of  one's  own  abilities,  and  over-eagerness 
to  succeed.   "Whence  can  the  much-needed  conservatism  be  so  easily 


THE  AMERICAN  CHURCH.  *  377 

and  effectively  infused  into  the  American  character  as  from  the 
great  source  of  respect,  reverence,  sobriety,  patience,  and  humility, — 
that  grand  Institution  which  is  ever  looking  back  with  profound 
self-abasement  to  the  testimony  of  the  ages  and  the  revealed  truth 
of  God,  which  teaches  men  to  distrust  themselves  and  their  own 
deductions,  and  bids  them  recognize  in  venerableness  and  stability 
criteria  of  truth  and  worth  1  It  may  be  distasteful  to  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  to  hear  that  it  has  anything  to  learn  from  the 
First,  it  may  not  be  gratifying  to  national  pride  to  be  told  that 
customs,  laws,  methods  which  have  barely  withstood  the  assaults 
of  one  hundred  years,  are  less  trustworthy  than  such  as  have  en- 
dured the  convulsions  of  nearly  two  thousand ;  but  nnwelcome 
lessons  are  sometimes  not  unwholesome.  What  principle  of  per- 
manency can  possibly  exist  in  sects  which  are  perhaps  younger 
than  youthful  America,  which  ridicule  all  appeal  to  antiquity, 
which  teach  every  man  to  do  what  seems  good  in  liis  own  eyes, 
which  perpetually  shift  their  anchorage,  so  as  to  deny  at  one  time 
what  they  strenuously  affirm  at  another,  which  are  the  creatures 
of  yesterday  and  will  die  to-morrow.  Let  men  mock  at  the  pur- 
blind souls  which  are  content  to  grope  with  the  moles  and  bats  in 
the  suljterranean  darkness  of  hoar  antiquity,  let  them  smile  at  an- 
tiquated notions,  obsolete  customs,  and  mediaeval  superstitions, 
while  the  sanctity  of  marriage,  the  holiness  of  home,  honesty  in 
business  transactions,  incorruptibility  in  public  station,  temper- 
ance, soberness,  and  chastity  are  being  swallowed  up  in  a  general 
whirl  of  extravagance,  luxuriousness,  and  debauchery ;  let  them 
throw  over  these  fearful  facts  the  cloak  of  periodical  excitement, 
or  strive  to  forget  them  amid  persistent  reiterations  of  mutual 
assurances  that  they  do  not  exist;  let  them  comfort  themselves 
with  doctrines  invented  for  the  express  purpose  of  proving  that 
crime  is  mental  disease  and  not  moral  delinquency,  and  with  the 
consoling  delusions  of  a  soft,  self-indulgent,  easy-going  Christian- 
ity, which  knows  nothing  of  the  Cross  save  as  a  jeweled  orna- 
ment ;  let  them  drive  into  hostility  to  religion  those  who  have 
manliness  enough  to  despise  beliefs  which  cannot  abide  the  test  of 
reasoning  nor  satisfy  the  longings  of  a  heroic  heart  to  sacrifice 
itself  for  its  Lord ; — and  the  divine  judgment  will,  sooner  or  later, 
descend  upon  the  land  in  overpowering  wrath,  short,  sharp,  and 
terrible. 

Already  has  sectional  jealousy  given  rise  to  one  tremendous 


378'  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

contest.  How  many  years  of  peace  and  prosperity  will  dawn  upon 
the  United  States  before  the  conflicting  interests  of  different  groups 
of  states  will  again  point  brother's  sword  at  the  breast  of  brother? 
Mutterings  of  a  coming  storm  are  occasionally  heard.  The  finan- 
cial question  is  a  fruitful  source  of  controversy  between  East  and 
West,  and  it  is  becoming  yearly  more  important  with  the  growth 
of  the  country.  The  population  is  multiplying,  the  vacant  lands 
are  rapidly  being  taken  ])ossession  of  and  put  under  cultivation. 
New  states  are  being  formed,  and  old  ones  are  increasing  in  power 
and  resources.  A  day  is  approaching  which  will  see  the  arable 
territory  of  our  country  occupied,  and  the  vast  empire  teeming 
with  restless  millions,  greedy  for  money,  careless  of  risk,  indiffer- 
ent to  consequences,  intelligent,  enterprising,  self-confident.  What 
power  will  then  be  strong  enough  to  bind  together  in  one  solar 
system  these  rushipg  worlds  ?  Can  sectarianism  do  it  ? — sectarian- 
ism that  is  the  very  principle  of  disunion,  which  is  itself  dividing 
and  subdividing  endlessly,  as  if  to  demonstrate  the  infinite  divis- 
ibility of  matter?  Or  shall  we  not  look  more  hopefully  towards 
the  Catholic  Church,  which  has  always  shown  itself  the  friend  and 
ally  of  law  and  order,  which,  although  bound  to  that  body  of 
death,  the  Roman  Empire,  nevertheless  preserved  its  own  unity 
long  after  the  final  disruption  of  that  once  huge  and  powerful 
realm  ?  Is  there  not  some  dependence  to  be  placed  upon  a  cor- 
porate society  which  professes  to  have  organic  union  with  the  in- 
carnate Son  of  God,  guarded  by  rules  and  regulations  of  His 
appointment  which  have  preserved  it,  without  serious  impairment, 
through  all  the  revolutions  and  catastrophes  of  eighteen  hundred 
years?  AVill  not  an  organization  wliich,  sjjreading  its  ramifica- 
tions over  the  breadth  and  length  of  the  land  and  extending  them 
into  every  corner,  instructs  all  its  members  that  willful  separation 
from  the  body  corporate  is  not  only  detrimental,  as  destructive  of 
the  outward  and  visible  unity  which  ought  to  characterize  a  Chris- 
tian brotherhood,  but  is  the  deadly  sin  of  schism,  entailing  loss  of 
all  title  to  heavenly  felicity,  exert  at  least  a  slight  influence  in 
compacting  the  numerous  states,  north  and  south,  east  and  west, 
great  and  small,  into  one  mighty  confederacy,  as  durable  as  it  will 
be  imposing  ? 

But  would  it  not  be  unkind,  ungrateful,  to  give  up  that  faith 
to  which  America  owes  so  much  of  her  freedom  and  independence 
for  a  creed  which  is  identified  with  absolute  power?     Does  our 


THE  AMEBICAJV  CHURCH.  379 

country,  then,  owe  so  much  to  Puritanism  ?  "We  very  much  doubt 
it.  In  its  early  days,  Puritanism  showed  itself  to  the  full  as  intol- 
erant, arbitrary,  illiberal,  and  narrow  as  those  from  whose  tyranny 
it  professed  to  have  suffered.  Poetry  may  perhaps  be  excused  for 
sweetly  singing,  concerning  the  first  landing  of  tlie  "  Pilgiim  Fa- 
thers "  upon  the  "  stern  and  rock-bound  coast "  of  New  England, 
that  they  "  left  unstained  what  there  they  found,  freedom  to  worship 
God  ; "  but  sober  history  must  be  suffered  to  relate  how  bitterly 
they  persecuted  Anabaptists,  Quakers,  and  all  others  whose  con- 
sciences and  judgments  did  not  exactly  coincide  with  their  own. 
The  Roman  Catholics  of  Maryland  established  complete  toleration 
for  all  who  believed  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  the  Puritans  of 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  cut  off  ears,  burned  tongues,  and 
otherwise  maltreated  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Churchmen,  and 
other  "heretics,"  scourging,  banishing,  and  killing  them.  In 
the  mother-countrv,  sectarianism  ran  riot  under  Cromwell ;  but 
it  was  the  sturdy,  quiet,  and  inflexible  spirit  of  sound  churchman- 
ship  which  had  gradually  forced  from  the  crown  acknowledgments 
of  the  Commons'  rights  and  confirmations  of  their  privileges,  and 
which,  eventually  triumphing  over  the  hostile  spirit  of  misrule, 
firmly  established  the  admirable  system  of  limited  and  constitu- 
tional monarchy  under  which  Englishmen  now  enjoy  as  much 
freedom,  perhaps,  as  men  can  have  without  rushing  into  license. 
Let  it,  however,  be  said  that  American  Puritanism  soon  lost  the 
objectionable  features  which  made  it  so  unlovely  in  its  earlier 
days,  and  rapidly  succumbed  to  the  influence  of  the  new  conti- 
nent, forgetting  in  a  generation  or  two  much  of  its  narrowness  and 
many  of  its  prejudices,  and  suffering  its  adherents  to  broaden  out 
into  the  distinguished  patriots  whom  it  gave  to  the  councils  and 
battle-fields  of  the  Revolution.  Let  us  grant  Puritanism  its  proper 
meed  of  praise,  and  no  more. 

To  run  a  career  of  glorious  achievement,  the  American  Church 
is  in  a  condition  in  which  no  church  has  been  since  the  days  of 
Constantino  till  she  was  bora  amid  the  throes  of  the  Revolution. 
It  is  true  that,  from  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary,  Scotland 
had  had  a  church  of  her  own,  free  from  any  debasing  connection 
with  the  civil  government ;  but  the  Scottish  Church  was  so  unfort- 
unately circumstanced  that  the  prospects  of  her  ever  prospering 
greatly  seemed  faint  enough.  The  Church  in  America  has  had  to 
contend   against  no  great  overshadowing   establishment  like  the 


380  TEE  CHURCH  A2fD   THE  FAITH. 

Presbyterian  Kirk  in  Scotland,  but  bas,  in  a  measure  at  least,  had 
a  fair  field  on  which  to  do  battle  for  her  life.     She  suffered  not  a 
little  during  the  Revolutionary  period  by  reason  of  the  suspicion 
-which  attached  to  her  as  the  daughter  of  the  church  established  in 
the  kino-dom  Avith  wliich  the  colonists  were  at  war,  and  was  often 
charged  with  toryism,  as  she  has  been  since  with  aversion  to  free 
institutions  and  to  a  republican  form  of  government ;  but  she  has 
escaped  the  deadliness  of  the  enmity  which  has  so  often  assailed 
the  Mother-Church  upon  grounds  purely  political.     Few,  compara- 
tively, have  dissented  from  her  because  they  supposed  her  doctrines 
inherently  opposed  to  their  political  sentiments ;  and  none,  because 
they  charged  her  with  having  joined  hands  with  the  government 
to  oppress  them.     The  American  Church  is  free,  and  may  well 
thank  God  for  having  delivered  her  from  her  Mother's  thralldom. 
She  may  at  times  think  it  hard  that  she  is  left  to  fight  her  own 
battles  with  nutliing  but  supernatural  aid  to  support  her;  yet  she 
must  herself  feel  that  such  thoughts  belong  only  to  the  hour  of 
weakness,  and  are  unworthy  of  her  high  calling.     It  is  a  glorious 
thino-  to  be  free!     To  know  that  none  lower  than  God  Himself  is 
her  master,  or  has  the  right  to  enact  laws  for  her  to  obey,  except, 
indeed,  the  great  Catholic  Church  of  which  she  herself  is  an  inte- 
gral portion  ;  to  have  the  exalted  responsibility  of  waging  warfare 
for  her  Eternal  King  with  the  forces  of  evil  that  are  banded  against 
her,  and  to  be  in  a  position  to  do  this  without  fear  or  favor ;  are 
things  worth  Yw'uvr  for.     Not  to  herself  does  she  owe  her  freedom, 
any  more  than  she  does  her  original  being.     It  may  not  be  to  the 
Church's  credit  that,  having  once  been  enslaved,  she  never  rose  to 
an  appreciation  of  her  birthright  and  demanded  to  be  free  again, 
and  that  the  nearest  approach  she  ever  made,  during  the  long  lapse 
of  centuries,  to  an  assertion  of  her  prerogatives,  was  that  of  imitat- 
ing the  State,  and  trying,  in  her  turn,  to  make  a  serf  of  it ;  but  the 
facts  are  precisely  such.     She  is  not  free  in  the  United  States  on 
account  of  any  wise  movements,  or  prudent  precautions,  or  far- 
sighted  policy  of  her  own,  but  merely  because  divine  Providence 
was  pleased  that  it  should  be  so.     Thus  God  Himself  has  wrought 
another  most  important  reformation  in  the  Church  which  He  died 
to  redeem.     Are  we  not  justified  in  confidently  believing  that  His 
favor  has  not  yet  deserted  her,  and  that  He  intends  her  to  fulfill  a 
grand  destiny !     Why  else  has  her  polity  been  preserved  intact 
through  so  many  revolutions,  and  why  has  she  been  restored  to 


THE  AMERICAN  CHURCH.  381 

the  condition  in  which  she  won  such  splendid  triumphs  during  the 
period  before  Constantine  the  Great  ?  God,  we  see,  has  not  for- 
gotten His  promises,  and  will  not  cease  to  be  gracious  unto 
her. 

But,  before  the  embrati'ing  serpent  unwound  itself  from  the 
body  of  its  intended  victim,  it  tightened  its  coils  with  the  expiring 
rage  of  desperation  till  the  blood  stagnated  in  the  compressed 
veins  and  the  very  bones  cracked  beneath  the  strain.  For  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  the  English  Establishment  held  the  infant  Church 
of  America  in  her  remorseless  grasp.  Where  would  the  Church 
of  England  have  been,  had  Britain  herself  been  treated  as  she 
treated  the  Colonies?  The  successful  missionary  leader  was 
almost  immediately  consecrated  to  the  episcopate,  and  so  endowed 
with  all  necessary  power  and  authority  to  plant  an  apostolic 
church  that  should  lack  no  element  of  growth  and  stability ;  but 
the  successor  of  Augustine  dared  not,  and  in  one  sense  could  not, 
ordain  a  single  bishop  for  the  vast  territory  of  I^orth  America, 
separated  by  three  thousand  miles  of  ocean  from  the  parent  coun- 
try, and  evidently  destined  soon  to  swarm  with  countless  myriads 
of  intelligent,  industrious,  and  thriving  inhabitants.  Reasons  of 
state  interfered  with  the  free  action  of  God's  ministers,  and  for- 
bade their  sending  a  chief-shepherd  to  watch,  as  he  only  could, 
over  the  welfare  and  safety  of  Christ's  flock.  Technical  difficul- 
ties, due  entirely  to  the  existence  of  an  ungodly  relationship  which 
virtually  constituted  an  enslavement  of  the  church,  prevented  the 
English  bench  from  listening  to  the  earnest  supplications  of  the  de- 
tached and  languishing  congregations  of  American  "Ej)iscopalians" 
that  they  might  have  a  bishop  to  oversee  their  aifairs.  Lord 
Clarendon,  in  his  zeal  for  the  pure  faith,  might  strongly  favor  the 
project  of  consecrating  a  missionary  bishop,  and  prelates  like 
Berkeley,  Gibson,  Butler,  and  Sherlock  might  strenuously  advo- 
cate the  measure,  but  all  to  no  purpose  while  there  existed  a 
ministry  composed,  as  for  example  the  celebrated  Cahal  cabinet 
was,  of  Infidels,  Papists,  and  a  Presbyterian.  The  State  itself 
reaped  as  it  deserved  to  reap.  The  hearts  of  thousands  of  settlers, 
who  were  naturally  drawn  by  religion,  as  well  as  by  birth  and 
inherited  affection,  to  the  father-land,  who  under  a  different  treat- 
ment would  have  remained  staunch  loyalists,  wei-e  alienated  by 
this  course  of  reckless  indifference,  and  driven  into  fraternizing 
with  those  whose  education  and  traditions  rendered  them  violently 


382  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

hostile  to  crosier  and  sceptre  alike.  As  for  the  Church,  she  seems 
to  breathe  with  a  difficulty  suggestive  of  speedy  dissolutiou.  The 
apostolic  rite  of  Confirmation,  whereby  the  Holy  Ghost  is  be- 
stowed upon  those  whom  the  regeneration  of  baptism  lias  fitted 
for  the  reception  of  such  a  gift,  not  administered  for  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years ;  the  grace  of  Holy  Orders  withheld  for  that  length 
of  time  from  all  who  were  not  in  a  position  to  undertake  a  long 
and  expensive  voyage ;  no  supervision,  except  that  of  an  occasional 
commissary  sent  out  to  act  for  the  bishop  of  London,  exercised 
during  that  full  period  over  the  scattered  congregations,  which 
were  often  destitute,  too,  for  many  years  of  pastoral  care  and  con- 
trol ; — what  condition  was  this  for  a  religious  coii^oration  to  live, 
and  thrive,  and  grow  in,  which  requires  by  its  essential  consti- 
tution some  sort  at  least  of  episcopal  goveniment  ?  It  seemed  as 
though  the  experiment  were  being  made  how  much  the  Church 
could  bear  without  extinction ;  as  though  a  heartless  state-policy 
were  putting  her  to  tests  not  less  painful  and  crucial  than  those 
which  science  applies,  in  vivisection,  to  the  quivering  frames  of 
dumb  brutes.  That  she  did  not  succumb  to  the  torture  and  die, 
is  little  short  of  a  miracle;  but  her  Lord  did  not  intend  that  the 
New  "World,  the  chosen  battle-ground  of  innumerable  sects,  should 
be  left  without  some  organization  capable  of  bearing  witness 
to  the  true  Catholic  faith  and  gathering  souls  into  the  one 
safe  fold. 

"When  "William  of  Orange  drove  the  Stuarts  from  their  throne, 
eight  English  Bishops,  with  Sancroft  of  Canterbury  at  their  head, 
together  with  their  brethren  of  the  Scottish  bench,  conceiving 
themselves  bound  in  conscience  by  the  oaths  which  they  had 
taken  to  support  the  deposed  family,  refused  to  transfer  their  alle- 
giance to  the  new  monarch,  and  consequently  incurred  the  royal 
displeasure.  From  that  date  onwards  the  Church  in  Scotland, 
under  the  superintendence  of  the  non-juring  bishops,  existed  in- 
dependent of  the  secular  government  and  bravely  contending 
against  immense  odds.  Unfettered  by  state  ties,  the  Scotch  Epis- 
copate, to  which  an  appeal  had  previously  been  made  in  America's 
behalf  bv  the  liberal-minded  Berkelev,  was  able  to  listen  to  Dr. 
Seabury's  petition,  when,  having  met  with  little  encouragement 
in  his  efforts  to  secure  consecration  at  the  hands  of  the  English 
prelates,  he  turned  towards  it  with  better  hope.  In  the  year  1784, 
on  the  14th  day  of  November,  by  the  official  act  of  three  bishops 


^ 


THE  AMERICAN  CHURCE.  333 

whose  names  should  be  known  to  every  American  Churchman, — 
Kilgour,  Skinner,  and  Petrie,  Bishop,  and  Coadjutor,  of  Aberdeen, 
and  Bishop  of  Koss  and  Moray,  respectively,  the  first  named  being 
also  Primus  of  Scotland, — Samuel  Seabury  became  invested  with 
full  apostolic  authority  and  entitled  to  exercise  it  within  the  dio- 
cese of  Connecticut.  The  majority  of  American  Churchmen  were 
unfortunately  disposed  to  look  coldly  upon  one  whose  orders  had 
been  conferred  by  Non-jurors.  In  1787,  after  much  delay  caused 
by  the  legal  difficulties  which  stood  in  the  way  of  consecrating 
men  who,  being  citizens  of  a  free  Kepublic,  could  not  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  British  government,  and  also  by  a  not- 
inexcusable  fear  that  the  youthful  church  would  commit  some 
great  indiscretion  and  thereby  forfeit  its  catholic  character,  or  at 
least  involve  the  Mother-Church  in  her  perils,  misfortunes,  and 
just  reproaches,  Drs.  White  and  Provoost  received  the  full  apos- 
tolic commission  from  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York, 
and  the  Bishops  of  Bath  and  Wells,  and  Peterborough,  at  the 
Archiepiscopal  Chapel  of  Lambeth,  on  the  4th  of  February. 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York  being  thus  provided  with  bishops, 
there  yet  lacked  one  to  make  up  the  number  necessary  to  a  regu- 
lar consecration,  unless  Bishop  Seabury  should  be  called  in  to 
assist.  At  length  this  knot  was  cut  by  the  consecration  of  Dr. 
Madison  for  the  diocese  of  Yirginia,  in  1790,  which  was  the  one 
hundred  and  eighty-third  year  since  Robert  Hunt  had  first  un- 
furled the  banner  of  the  English  Church  on  the  northern  bank  of 
the  James  River.  In  1792  the  four  bishops  laid  their  united  hands 
upon  the  head  of  Dr.  Claggett,  bishop-elect  of  Maryland,  whose 
is  the  distinction  of  having  been  the  first  to  be  consecrated  on 
American  soil. 

Thus  the  struggling  and  newly-emancipated  church  obtained 
a  valid  Episcopate.  As  she  adopted  the  faith  of  the  Mother- 
Church  with  only  a  very  few  and  unimportant  changes,  and,  in 
1789,  a  Book  of  Common  Prayer  which  was  substantially  identical 
with  that  which  she  had  used  before  the  Colonies  had  achieved 
their  independence  (the  only  really  important  alterations  being  the 
omission  of  the  Athanasian  Creed  and  of  the  Commination  Service 
and  the  incorporation  into  the  Communion  Office  of  certain  feat- 
ures suggested  by  the  Scotch  Liturgy),  it  cannot  be  denied  that,  if 
the  Church  of  England  is  a  living  and  comparatively  pure  branch 
of  the  One,  Holy,  Catholic,  and  Apostolic  Church,  the  American 


384  TEE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

offshoot  is  so  likewise.  Certainly,  intercommunion  between 
mother  and  daughter  has  not  been  broken  off  during  the  century 
that  has  elapsed  since  the  Declaration  of  Independence  gave 
warning  that  a  distinct  organization  for  the  latter  might  soon  be- 
come indispensable. 

A  society  or  a  corjjoration  cannot  exist  long  in  an  abnormal 
condition  without  experiencing  injurious  effects.  Shall  we  sup- 
pose, then,  tliat  the  Church  of  God,  being  constituted,  as  we  are 
convinced  that  by  divine  charter  it  is,  with  bishops  as  its  only 
proper  chief  rulers,  could  continue  for  such  a  length  of  time  on  an 
enforced  congregational  basis  without  suffering  great  loss  of  vital 
tone  ?  Congregational  societies,  it  is  true,  flourished  well  enough 
on  a  foundation,  ostensible  and  real,  of  that  description,  but  they 
do  not  teach  the  doctrine  that  we  hold  forth  before  the  people, 
instructing  them  in  the  necessity  of  sacramental  grace,  ministerial 
authority,  and  the  witness  of  a  continuous  organization.  A  church 
without  a  bishop  is  a  body  without  a  head ;  and  a  church  with  its 
episcopal  ruler  removed  from  it  by  the  width  of  the  Atlantic,  is  a 
body  corjK)rate  doomed  to  a  very  feeble  condition.  The  great 
wonder  is  that,  infected  by  the  religious  atmosphere  around  them, 
and  stung  by  the  unnatural  conduct  of  a  mother  who  could  not 
act  as  she  would  towards  her  offspring,  which,  doubtless,  she  loved 
far  mere  tenderly  than  she  dared  to  show,  the  whole  mass  of 
Church-people  did  not  rise  in  revolt  and  join  the  ranks  of  Dissent ; 
and  that  they  did  not  do  so,  but  compelled  themselves  to  bear 
patiently  as  much  neglect  and  ill-usage  as  could  well  be  put  upon 
them,  is  a  very  strong  testimony  to  the  correctness  of  the  principles 
to  which  they  clung  so  tenaciously.  Nevertheless,  large  numbers 
were  estranged,  in  whole  or  in  part,  from  the  communion  of  their 
foretathers,  while  others  sat  weeping  over  the  ruin  that  seemed 
coming  upon  their  Zion.  It  is  lamentable  enough  to  reflect  that 
whole  congregations  were  thus  irretrievably  lost  to  the  True  Church, 
whose  livery  they  stripped  off  from  themselves,  and  whose  colors 
they  traitorously  and  cravenly  trampled  in  the  dust;  but  it  is  far 
sadder  to  contemplate  the  frightful  degeneracy  which  pervaded 
the  whole  American  communion,  in  consequence  of  the  false  posi- 
tion into  which  she  had  been  forced.  "What  must  be  the  result 
upon  the  minds  of  thinking  people  of  inculcating  upon  them,  in 
every  way,  the  great  necessity  of  baptism,  and  then  leaving  them 
to  move  heaven  and  earth  with  supplication,  and  crying,  and  bitter 


THE  AMERICAN  CHURCH.  385 

mourning  for  a  priest  to  administer  that  sacrament;  of  holding 
np  the  advantages  of  the  apostolic  rite  of  confirmation,  and  keep- 
ing thousands  of  people  without  the  possibility  of  obtaining  those 
benefits  which  you  have  persuaded  them  are  so  great ;  of  remain- 
ing aloof  from  large  societies  of  Christians  because  they  have  no 
valid  ministry,  and  then  refusing  to  supply  your  own  starving 
people  with  those  who  alone,  you  tell  them,  can  bring  down  for 
them  the  bread  from  Heaven  ?  Such  glaring,  ay !  monstrous, 
contradictions  between  theory  and  practice  did  strike  with  stun- 
ning force  upon  all  minds,  impelling  them  towards  courses  of 
action,  w'hich  were  more  or  less  fatal,  according  to  their  various 
bents  and  the  nature  of  the  training  they  had  received.  How 
could  any  but  the  most  robust  souls  retain  a  warm  attachment 
to  their  church,  or  a  firm  belief  in  its  claims  ?  How  was  it  pos- 
sible that  the  rulers  of  God's  kingdom  on  earth  could  be  fully 
convinced  that  it  was  in  any  exclusive  sense  His  peculiar  do- 
minion, and  yet  take  so  little  pains  to  extend  its  boundaries, 
or  even  to  preserve  territory  already  conquered  ?  Would  not  the 
Virginia  or  Connecticut  Churchman  be  constantly  asking  him- 
self. Do  these  English  prelates,  who  turn  so  deaf  an  ear  to  our 
pleadings,  really  believe  that  an  apostolic  ministry  and  a  con- 
tinuity of  organization  are  of  any  vital  importance,  that  the 
vaunted  privileges  of  the  true  Church  are  any  privileges  at  all, 
or  that  there  is  any  difference  worth  troubling  one's  self  about 
between  Churchmanship  and  Dissent  ? 

The  result  was  that  the  tone  of  the  Church  sank  to  the  level  of 
sectarianism,  and  lower  yet  if  that  be  possible.  Nothing,  after  the 
establishment  of  American  independence,  preserved  the  remnant 
of  the  faithf'il  from  drifting  into  the  sects,  and  becoming  absorbed 
in  their  ranks,  but  the  lingering  traditions  of  the  fading  past. 
Sentiment,  rather  than  principle,  seems  to  have  actuated  an  over- 
whelming majority  of  those  who  retained  their  faith.  Even  the 
leaders  clung  to  the  ark  of  God,  not  because  it  was  the  Ark  of  the 
Covenant,  in  which  alone  safety  could  be  found,  but  because  they 
admired  its  shape  and  proportions,  understood  its  management, 
and  felt  at  home  beneath  its  roof.  They  gathered  around  its 
standard,  not  because  they  felt  that  they  were  drawing  their  swords 
in  defense  of  the  Bride  of  the  Lamb,  but  because  they  claimed  the 
right,  as  free  Americans,  to  worship  in  any  way  they  saw  fit. 
"Whoever  studies  carefully  the   Memoirs  of  Bishop  White  can 


386  THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

hardly  avoid  the  eonchision  that  even  that  meek-spirited,  devout, 
and  influential  prelate  had  no  superabundant  knowledge  of  what 
genuine  catholicity  is,  and  still  smaller  sympathy  with  it.  Indeed, 
no  more  humiliating  exercise  can  be  undertaken  by  a  true  son  of 
the  American  Church  than  that  of  reading  the  records  of  the 
early  Conventions,  with  the  comments  made  upon  them  by  him 
who,  in  many  respects,  was  their  foremost  member.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  Bishop  Seabury,  who,  like  Ridley,  was  independent 
and  original  enough  to  think  for  himself,  and  a  few  others,  hardly 
a  man  seems  to  have  had  the  slightest  idea  that  it  was  a  matter  of 
any  great  consequence,  except  to  the  handful  who  happened  to 
possess  a  strong  preference  for  her,  whether  the  Catholic  Church 
in  the  United  States  floated  or  sank.  "What  a  condition  for 
her  to  be  in !  Made  exclusive  by  the  instincts  of  even  the 
shadowy  Churchmanship  they  possessed,  and  yet  having  thrown 
away  the  only  decent  pretext  tliey  could  have  for  withhold- 
ing access  to  their  pulpits  and  altars  from  multitudes  who 
were  trying  as  earnestly  as  themselves  to  fill  souls  with  the 
love  of  Christ,  the  ministry  brought  down  upon  its  unhelmeted 
head  the  contemptuous  reproach  of  the  excluded  preachers  and 
their  followers,  and  did  not  escape  by  much  more  than  the 
breadth  of  a  very  fine  hair  from  making  itself  the  laughing- 
stock of  mankind. 

AVith  such  a  beginning,  what  was  to  be  the  history  of  the 
American  Catholic  Church  ?  It  was  certain  that  many  years 
must  pass  over  her  head,  and  many  sore  trials  be  encountered, 
before  she  would  emerge  from  the  shadow  of  the  eclipse.  The 
most  sanguine  could  hardly  liave  designated  less  than  a  century 
as  the  period  of  castigation,  during  which  she  would  struggle  up- 
wards into  something  like  soundness  in  faith,  as  that  should  be 
held  by  the  mass  of  her  members;  while  he  whose  mental  com- 
position had  admitted  one  grain  of  despondency  would  predict  for 
her  a  career  of  increasing  apostacy,  till  at  length  her  justly-incensed 
Lord  should  pluck  her  candlestick  from  its  place.  The  sombre 
vaticinations  of  the  latter  class  had,  by  far,  the  most  probability 
upon  their  side,  and  would,  perhaps,  have  been  fulfilled  but  for  one 
circumstance  which  was  overlooked.  The  Americans  spoke  that 
grand  old  tongue,  in  which  were  enshrined  some  of  the  noblest 
theological  productions  that  have  ever  been  given  to  the  world, 
and  so  could  not  avoid  sometimes  stumbling  upon  a  treatise  which 


THE  AMERICAN  CEUBCH.  387 

would  put  before  them,  with  extraordinary  clearness,  and  almost 
irresistible  cogency  of  reasoning,  orthodox  views  to  which  they 
had  long  been  strangers.  Had  they  been  obliged  to  draw  their 
divinity  entirely  from  their  own  doctors,  or  depend  upon  the 
meagre  and  turbid  rills  afforded  by  translators,  there  could  hardly 
have  arisen  a  John  Henry  Hobart,  to  wear  upon  his  noble  brows 
the  mitre  of  the  Empire  State,  and  become  the  champion  of 
American  Catholicity,  and  it  is  little  less  than  certain  that  the 
"  Protestant  Episcopal "  Church  would  long  since  have  ceased  to 
have  so  much  as  a  name  on  the  earth. 

She  still  lives  and  breathes,  and  can  look  back  over  a  hundred 
years  of  substantial  progress,  but  what  position  does  she  occupy 
in  the  land  ?  The  tear  trickles  down  the  watchman's  furrowed 
cheek  as  he  prepares  himself  to  answer  the  question.  She  has  at 
least  the  nominal  adherence,  and  we  hope  something  far  beyond 
that,  of  a  fair  proportion  of  the  ablest  and  best  educated  men  the 
country  can  boast,  especially  perhaps  among  those  whose  training 
in  the  legal  system  which  we  have  inherited  fi'om  our  Anglo- 
Saxon  progenitors  has  peculiarly  fitted  them  for  appreciating  a 
theology  of  precedents;  and  in  the  large  cities  can  point  to  a  proud 
array  of  graceful  spires  and  solid  towers ;  and  that  is  nearly  all 
that  can  be  pleaded  in  her  behalf  Further  than  this,  we  have 
only  to  say  that  her  exclusiveness  has  exposed  her  to  a  hatred 
which  is  intensified  by  contempt  for  the  timidity  with  which  it  is 
maintained.  She  is  considered  on  all  sides  a  fair  mark  for  the 
shafts  of  ridicule.  The  abhorred  epithet  of  Catholic  is  hurled  at 
her  by  millions,  who  can  only  escape  the  charge  of  preferring  a 
slanderous  accusation  by  taking  refuge  behind  a  gross  and  cul- 
pable ignorance.  Her  utmost  eflfbrts  certainly  fail  to  keep  her 
much  more  than  abreast  of  the  increase  of  population,  the  ranks 
of  her  ministry  being  filled  up  with  extreme  difliculty,  and  then 
only  partially,  and  her  cofiers  being  chronically  empty.  In  fine, 
her  general  condition  is  such  that  those  who  have  her  welfare  at 
heart  periodically  wail  over  the  sad  state  into  which  she  has  fallen, 
and  cry  aloud  to  her  God  to  lift  her  out  of  it. 

Having  persevered  so  long  in  striving  to  reduce  herself  to  the 
status  of  a  sect,  without  propitiating  in  the  least  degree  the  numer- 
ous denominations  among  whom  she  would  gladly  hide  her  insig- 
nificance, is  it  not  almost  time  that  she  should  try  a  change  of 
policy  ?     She  may  move  about  with  deprecatory  air  for  the  next 


388  THE  CHURCH  AXD   THE  FAITH. 

thousand  years,  if  tlie  world  last  so  long,  and  not  make  the  slight- 
est advance  towards  a  good  understanding  with  those  charitable 
persons  who  are  so  ready  to  fling  in  her  face  the  term  Cutholic. 
"Wlien  she  has  compelled  the  Komanists  to  retract  the  sweeping 
condemnation  which  they  pronounced  upon  her  as  a  mere  Protest- 
ant sect,  at  about  the  same  date  she  will  prevail  upon  the  denom- 
inations not  to  class  her  with  the  Papists.  Why  would  it  not  be 
well  for  her  to  see,  in  the  meantime,  whether  her  opponents  do  not 
take  a  more  correct  view  of  her  true  position  than  she  does  herself? 
Is  she  not  as  radically  distinct  from  the  sects,  by  reason  of  not 
having  lost  the  continuity  of  her  coqiorate  existence,  as  she  is 
from  the  Roman  Catholics,  by  having  discarded  the  errors  and 
corruptions  in  which  they  remain  entangled  ?  Either  she  is  this, 
or  she  is  nothing,  if  not  worse  than  nothing.  She  has  long  been  at- 
tempting to  persuade  men  that  is  she  something  else,  and  has  only 
succeeded  in  getting  herself  injured,  insulted,  assailed  on  every 
side.  TVhat  if  she  should  now  unfurl  her  banner  and  raise  the 
trumpet  to  her  lips,  warning  men  that  they  must  stand  aside  from 
her  patli  or  abide  the  consequences,  for  she  has  an  errand  from 
God  to  His  perishing  creatures  !  Suppose  that  the  tongue,  which 
has  hitherto  stammered  and  muttered,  should  proclaim  its  message 
with  the  clarion  tones  proper  to  a  herald  of  salvation  !  Could  the 
adversaries  hate  her  more  bitterly,  or  attack  her  more  fiercely,  than 
they  do  now*  Would  she  not  put  new  heart  into  all  her  true  chil- 
dren, and  give  to  each  ann  among  her  chosen  warriors  the  strength 
offitty? 

If  Pearson,  Bull,  and  AVaterland  are  to  be  the  theologians  at 
whose  feet  the  aroused  Church  of  America  will  sit,  let  Southev  be 
the  poet  who  shall  refresh  her  in  the  hour  of  repose.  Let  her 
leam  from  him  who  burned  beneath  Kehama's  cruel  curse  how 
to  resign  herself  to  the  terrible  trials  which  beset  her ;  let  her  en- 
courage herself  by  Thalaba's  example  to  throw  away  every  de- 
pendence but  that  upon  the  Lord  God  of  llosts,  who  is  sworn 
to  succor  those  who  have  unwavering  faith  in  His  mercy  and 
power;  and  let  her,  with  Poderick,  the  glorious  Goth,  repent  in 
dust  and  ashes  of  the  sins  which  have  involved  her  past  in  guilt 
and  shame ;  and  then,  perhaps,  will  her  banners  float  some  mem- 
orable day  over  a  field  as  triumphant  as  that  which  witnessed 
the  prodigies  of  valor  enacted  by  the  bare-headed  king  upon 
Moor  and  renegade,  when   he   rode,  rejoicing   in   his   strength, 


THE  AMERICAN  CHURCH.  339 

tlirongh  the  serried  ranks  of  the  miscreants.  If  she  is  not  the 
Church  of  God,  let  her  speedily  perish  upon  the  gibbet  of 
public  scorn;  but,  if  she  is  the  duly-accredited  representative, 
in  these  United  States,  of  the  grand  old  Church  of  the  Aces, 
she  has  only  to  be  true  to  herself,  and  she  will  soon  fly  upon 
the  wings  of  the  Great  Eagle  to  certain  victory.  May  God 
hasten  the  consummation ! 


NOTE    TO    PAGE    286. 

• 

The  Creed  recited  at  the  Council  of  Ephcsns,  and  confirmed  by  the  as- 
sembled fathers,  seems  enveloped  in  no  little  uncertainty.  Althouj^li  tlie  Council 
of  Constantinople  issued  a  Creed  which  was  different  in  some  respects  from  that 
which  had  been  set  forth  by  the  earlier  gathering,  the  latter  did  not  at  all  dis- 
appear from  sight,  nor  did  it  cease  to  be  used.  What  the  Council  of  Ephesus 
ratified  was  called  by  it  the  Nicene  Creed,  and  the  question  thereupon  arises. 
Did  it  mean  the  form  as  actually  set  forth  at  Nica'a  or  what  we  may  call  the 
Niceno-Constantinopolitaii  formula,  which  is  substantially  the  same  as  our  pres- 
ent Nicene  Creed.  On  this  jioint  authorities  differ  widely.  Dr.  Waterland 
affirms  that,  when  the  Ephesine  di\ines  solemnly  ratified  the  Nicene  Creed,  and 
forbade  any  alteration  of  it  or  departure  from  it,  they  meant  precisely  what 
they  said,  the  very  confession  of  faith  given  the  Church  by  the  tlirco  hundred 
and  eighteen  bishops,  in  325  a.  u.  ;  while  Bishop  Browne,  in  his  well-known  work 
on  the  Articles,  and  the  author  of  the  Annotated  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
are  quite  as  positive  in  their  assertions  that  Cyril  and  his  friends  actually  gave 
their  sanction  to  the  improved  version,  if  we  may  so  designate  the  altered  for- 
mulary which  we  owe  to  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  fathers  who  sat  under  the 
presidency  of  Gregory  Nazianzen. 

While  it  must  be  admitted  tliat  the  matter  is  not  of  very  grave  importance, 
it  may  merit  a  little  attention.  The  two  Creeds  do  not  at  all  conflict  with  each 
other,  but  are  entirely  in  harmony,  the  main  points  of  variance  being  that  the 
earlier  ends  with  damnatory  clauses  which  were  omitted  from  the  other,  and 
that  this  latter  is  more  copious  in  its  expressions  concerning  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Neither,  probably,  was  very  new,  the  original  Xicene  formula  differing  little,  we 
have  good  reason  to  suppose,  from  one  or  more  creeds  which  were  recited  by 
individual  members  of  that  venerable  assemblage  when  called  upon  for  a  dec- 
laration of  their  belief  ;  and  the  Constantinopolitan  being  virtually  the  same 
thing,  retouched  by  the  skillful  hand  of  Gregory  Nazianzen, — according,  at 
least,  to  a  wide-spread  opinion  of  antiquity, — he,  however,  borrowing  the  altera- 
tions from  another  ancient  formulary  ante-dating  Nicsea,  of  which  Epiphanius 
gives  us  information.  After  Constantinople,  the  two  Creeds  moved  along,  side 
by  side,  in  sisterly  amity,  for  at  least  three  hundred  years,  as  we  know  from  the 
most  reliable  testimony,  the  records  of  the  Fourth  and  Sixth  General  Councils, 
at  both  of  which  the  two  Creeds  were  separately  sanctioned.  The  Acts  of  these 
Councils  mention  first  the  definition  of  faith  set  forth  by  the  three  hundred  and 
eighteen  Holy  Fathers  of  the  Church  at  Nicaea,  reaffirming  it ;  and  then  men- 
tion separately  the  definition  of  faith  set  forth  by  the  one  hundred  and  fifty 
Holy  Fathers  of  the  Church  at  Constantinople,  similarly  sanctioning  it. 


NOTE  TO  PAGE  SS6.  391 

Nevertheless,  it  would  be  rather  satisfactory  to  find  that  the  General  Council 
which  immediately  followed  Constantinople  distinctly  recognized  the  validity  of 
its  action  upon  the  important  topic  of  a  Creed  for  the  whole  Church.     We  will, 
first,  try  to  ascertain  the  fact,  and  then  we  may  enlarge  briefly  upon  that  fact. 
The  learned  Hammond,  in  his  very  valuable  "Definitions  of  Faith  and  Canons 
of  the  Universal  Church,"  thus  translates  a  portion  of  the  Seventh  Canon  of  the 
Ephesine  Council  :  "  These  things  having  been  read,  the  holy  Synod  has  deter- 
mined that  no  person  shall  be  allowed  to  bring  forward,  or  to  write,  or  to  com- 
pose any  other  Creed  besides  that  which  was  settled  by  the  holy  Fathers  who 
were  assembled  in  the  city  of  Nicaea,  with  the  Holy  Ghost."     This  language 
seems  sufficiently  explicit  to  convince  any  one  that  the  particular  Creed  adopted 
by  the  Third  General  Council  was  the  Nicene,  properly  so  called,  and  not  the 
Constantinopolitan.     An  examination  of  Beveridge's  Synodicon,  in  which  will 
be  seen  all  the  Canons  of  this  Synod,  in  Latin,  will  show  that  Hammond  gives  a 
correct  vei'sion  of  the  important  Seventh  Canon,  unless  Beveridge  is  wrong  too. 
If  this  is  not  enough,  the  investigator  may  turn  to  the  Arabic  Paraphrase  which 
Beveridge  annexes  ;  and,  if  he  hesitates  to  undertake  unpointed  Arabic,  in  bad 
type,  a  glance  at  the  Latin  intercolumnar  translation  will  probably  satisfy  him 
that  it  lends  no  aid  nor  comfort  to  those  who  insist  that  Nicene  means  Constan- 
tinopolitan.   And  now,  when  we  have  turned  to  Labbe's  prodigious  work  on  the 
Councils,  the  end  is  reached.     Behold,  spread  before  us  on  huge  folio  pages,  the 
proceedings,  and  the  canons,  and  the  letters,  and  all  that  is  extant  done  by  or  at 
that  council,  or  in  relation  to  it.     In  Greek  and  Latin,  Labbe  gives  the  same 
account  that  Beveridge  and  Hammond  do.     There  is  no  allusion  to  the  Constan- 
tinopolitan assemblage  and  its  definition  of  faith,  but  we  are  told  of  the  Creed 
given  forth  "  by  the  holy  Fathers  who  were  assembled  in  the  city  of  Nie£ea." 
Let  us  listen  to  a  comment  which  Labbe  quotes  from  Binius  :  "  After  these 
things  the  decree  of  the  catholic  faith  was  confirmed.     For,  the  Nicene  Symbol 
having  been  repeated,  it  was  enjoined,  under  anathema,  that  no  one  should 
attempt  in  any  way  to  add  to  the  faith,  beyond  what  had  been  defined  by  the 
Nicene  Council."    If  the  indulgent  reader  will  pardon  this  rude  translation,  he 
wiU  judge  that  Binius  and  Labbe  clearly  distinguish  Nicene  from  Niceno-Co7istan- 
tinopolifan.     It  will  be  well,  also,  that  we  should  notice  a  long  Epistle  of  Cyril  to 
Anastasius  and  others,  given  by  Labbe,  explaining  the  Nicene  Creed ;  for  in  it 
he  not  only  employs  the  title,  but  sets  down  the  formula  itself  at  length, — and 
the  words  are  those  of  the  original  Council. 

We  must,  therefore,  conclude  that,  unless  other  evidence  can  be  adduced, 
we  have  no  good  reason  to  doubt  that  the  Third  General  Council  sanctioned  the 
Creed  of  the  First,  and  not  that  of  the  Second.  Moreover,  whence  such  evidence 
is  to  be  derived  is  hard  to  conjecture  ;  and  on  what  grounds  Harold  Browne  and 
Blunt  base  their  opinions  is  also  very  obscure.  Waterland's  judgment  seldom 
misled  him,  nor  does  this  seem  to  be  an  exceptional  instance. 

It  will,  however,  be  appropriate  to  reflect  that,  even  at  the  summer  solstice, 
a  day  has  no  more  than  its  twenty-four  hours,  and  that  when  a  council  attempts 
to  crowd  everything  into  so  brief  a  space  of  time,  omissions  are  sure  to  occur. 
These  dignified  prelates,  being  in  such  unseemly  haste  to  transact  all  their  busi- 
ness before  the  arrival  of  the  Antiochene  party,  doubtless  contented  themselves 
with  one  Creed,  which  happened  to  seem  to  them  the  best  for  their  purposes, 
and  disregarded  the  other  without  intending  to  deny  or  disparage  it  at  all. 
Fairness  also  reminds  us  that,  twenty  years  later,  not  long  enough  for  men  to 


392  TEE  CHURCH  AND   THE  FAITH. 

have  forgotten  what  occurred  at  this  synod,  another  General  Council,  that  of 
Chalcedon,  confirmed  the  three  that  had  gone  before,  and  adopted  distinctly 
both  Creeds.  How  Chalcedon  cotdd  have  given  its  approval  to  both  Constanti- 
nople and  Ephesus,  if  Ephesus  had  intended  to  repudiate  Constantinople,  we  do 
not  see,  especially  when  we  remember  that  Theodoret  attended  both  assemblies, 
a  man  who  was  quick  to  discover,  and  not  slow  to  point  out,  such  contradictions. 
The  Second  of  Constantinople  next  lends,  in  its  turn,  its  solemn  sanction  to  the 
four  that  had  gone  before  it,  and  lastly,  the  Third  of  Constantinople,  which  was 
the  Sixth  General  Council,  sanctions  and  approves  the  whole  five. 

Therefore,  although  there  is  no  evidence,  apparently,  that  the  Council  of 
Ephesus  even  knew  that  the  Constantinopolitan  Creed  existed,  it  may  neverthe- 
less have  even  recited  that  formula,  as  some  suppose,  and  stamped  it  with  its 
deliberate  approval ;  and  if  it  did  not  do  so,  but  ignored  it  entirely,  this  was 
probably  due  to  great  haste,  for  if  tlie  action  had  been  intentional,  the  Council 
of  Chalcedon,  knowing  this,  would  have  shrunk  from  stultifying  itself  by 
approving  the  two  councils. 

As  regards  the  further  history  of  the  Creetls,  when  the  decay  of  Arianism 
had  removed  the  occasion  for  reciting  the  damnatory  clauses  of  the  earlier 
Definition,  they  were  no  longer  clung  to  with  the  old  tenacity,  and  then,  the 
Creed  to  which  they  belonged  having  lost  its  claim  upon  a  separate  existence, 
the  final  merging  took  place,  and  the  Xiceno-Constautinopolitau  formulary 
reigned  undisputed. 


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